The lost lamb
by Sofimiscat
Summary: Tsuna is now safe, away from danger and pain. Or so they would like to think. A new shield has been chosen, too bad nobody knows. AU Sequel of Capro Espiatorio
1. In the care of wolves

YEAH! I'm alive… barely

Just too busy so I'm afraid updates will be sloooow

Sorry for the inconvenience, and for everyone who enjoyed Capro espiatorio this is the sequel –DRUMS PLAYING….-

**THE LOST LAMB**

**Chapter 1: In the care of wolves.**

It's only the ones who manage all the paperwork in an hospital that really understands the sheer number of people that comes in and out of it, some of them repeatedly. A few escaped ones, some, dropping out unexpectedly, entire groups coming in from accidents with no papers or identifications, abandoned children found in the streets in bad conditions, in, out, in, out, all day long, every single day.

One would think, and probably be right, that errors often occur in such situations. Hopefully, the patient, his or her family can detect such mistakes.

Usually.

One day in April an unknown child was sent to the town in Nanimori, he was placed in a room with three others with the same diagnosis: coma. Three months later, one child woke up and his family was found, everybody was happy. One year later, another miracle happened, and the second child opened his eyes. Sadly the child had severe brain damage, leaving him in permanent care, in a clinic for such cases.

The third one didn't wake up. Instead he was installed in a room at the top floor. This, to prevent the child, whom had somewhat damaged lungs, to catch an infection. It had been an unintentional mistake to place him in the 'forbidden room' because it was an unwritten rule that NO ONE should be placed in there.

So, when a young teenager with an almost tangible black aura entered HIS room, and noticed the menace in it, he glared, and glared, and glared at the sleeping child. When the other didn't react to the murderous vibes, he grew curious. No one could resist completely his death glare, and the heart monitor just mocked him with the steady, calm pace it marked.

"Who is this?" He finally asked at the trembling nurse at his side, who was almost at the point of fainting from the death intent coming from the almost child. She was relatively new and could not understand the notion of the entire hospital obeying the rules of a little brat, who, supposedly was the relative of some high seated person, but now, in front of those eyes and that aggressive posture she could only babble and bow in submission, and wonder if perhaps the obedience of the staff was also for other reasons. "Eh…eh?.. oh! this… uhm he… he is in a coma!"

The eyes of the teenager got increasingly annoyed and she started to sweat while clasping the table in panic. "I asked who he was, not his illness herbivore…" Hissed the child and she felt a shiver in her spine.

"W-we don't know his name… he came here about a year and a half ago… IM SORRY! but we are full and I cannot move him by myself because of his ventilator and the machines!" The cold eyes moved away from her and she sighed."As long as he is quiet…" He said finally and the nurse took this as her opportunity to flee the room, praying for the small child left in there.

It was to the surprise of the staff in the hospital, that not only Hibari seemed not to mind the presence of the comatose boy, but he also seemed less aggressive towards the staff with the boy in the room. This resulted in the level and number of injuries dropping a little. So, the child remained in the room.

One joke, made from a careless intern, calling the kid as 'Hibari's boy' made him just that for all the another foolish resident spouted the nickname in front of Hibari, he only got a kick in the stomach for it, which in in Hibari's language equaled to acceptance, or at least, not complete refusal of the title.

The child remained in the room, and Hibari Kyoya remained the sole other occupant of that room. The dark haired child always came to the hospital covered in bruises and with a heavy scowl. Several times with fractures that he didn't let the doctors treat. He would enter the room and glance at the sleeping child in the room; and the scowl would go down just a little bit, just enough to give the doctor in charge the opportunity to treat the teenager.

At thirteen, Hibari Kyoya was becoming a feared character in the small town, and there were rumors of a small group of teenagers following the almost child and obeying his every wish.

The sleeping child seemed to be the only thing that could calm down a little bit the always furious teenager. So, the sleeping mystery became a most protected and loved commodity in the hospital. One that was protected against well and bad meaning social workers, and suspicious uncles and mothers who miraculously recognized the child as theirs. Usually, the staff reported the latter directly to Hibari.

It was another newbie nurse, who confused at the nickname, wrote down 'Hibari' in the monthly report of the hospital, thus, making him a Hibari in the eyes of the authorities. No one noticed this until the information was already in the electronic database, and no one was brave enough to declare the mistake to one Kyoya Hibari, and no one did.

Italy... six months later.

In a small town at the outskirts of Palermo, an unusual meeting was taking place. The room was well furnished and equipped, but it had a museum quality to it, almost fake, as if prepared hastily just for the sake of said meeting; one that could decide the future of three of the six families of Palermo.

The center of the room was dominated by a polished oak table. The three bosses of the Greco, Corleonesi and recently formed Alliano, families were seated in one side of the table; one next the other with their respective bodyguards behind them. In the opposite side there was a single chair, right in the middle and across from the three men.

The head of the Greco family stared at the empty chair in mounting irritation; even though it was not yet the time for the meeting he could see the unspoken message at the empty chair.

The Vongola were telling them just how unimportant they were.

The only door in the room opened and a young man entered the room, he was tall and lanky, his hair a shockingly pale red, almost pink color. His eyes quickly taking into the room and staring sharply at each person inside, Fredo, the head of the Greco felt himself stiffen at the hard, almost red eyes, the man gave a silent signal to someone behind him and a second pair of steps could be heard.

That was when Fredo took his first look at the already famous successor of the Vongola. Pale, of average height and blond, he was handsome enough, but the remains of baby fat still in the face gave him a soft air.

He hated him on sight.

He sneered at the teenager that approached the lone chair with a regal air, with the carefree air of a spoiled child.

His anger increased when the one who took the chair was said boy, and not the first man, hoping that the brat had been brought as an observant. He started to grit his teeth when he took a good look at the first man, and noticed that he was also very young, a little bit older, if not the same age as the Vongola brat.

"Gentlemen, congratulations for being here on time, we appreciate your thoughtful manners." Started the blond brat with a calm suave voice. The other teen with the vibrant colored hair deposited a portfolio in the table taking out three, tick, stacks of papers and pushed one in front of each man.

"This is my right hand, Gualterio Diasparra. From the Diasparra family. And my name is Giotto Leoni, the first candidate for the successor of the Vongola, as you might know." Resting his clasped hands on the table, the blond teen stared calmly at the three formidable men in front of him. "As you requested to be heard by an important member of the Vongola; and because we are truly concerned about this, it was deemed that the heir of our current boss would be the representative." He said with a bland smile and a small uplifting of a delicate eyebrow.

"That's it, if you don't think that the successor of the ninth boss and his own son is good enough?"

The two men at the left and right of Fabio profusely assured the teen of their agreement but Fabio remained silently glaring at the boy in front of him. "I'm not, this is a serious matter not a field trip for some daycare, and this is as good as slap in the face from you Vongola." Spat the man glaring at the teen in front of him. He would not bow to this barely post-pubescent boy.

"Oh? But it was apparently very urgent, and your messenger made it sound as if a war was just about to break out here in Palermo." A small tilt of the head and half-mast eyes completed the almost too innocent look in the blonde's face, which served to ignite a small spark of caution inside of the man, which was ignored in favor of the rage.

"This is not a game for children like you!" He said and made to stand up but a cold sensation in his temple made him freeze, at his side, glaring menacingly, was the red haired boy with a gun pointed directly at his temple, at his side, he could see his bodyguard being held in place by a gun between his eyes, which was in the other hand of the boy, he had not even detected the movement or the attack.

"Please G; don't be upset, the gentleman is clearly under much stress." Pacified the teenager, he smiled benignly and nodded to himself. "Now, we can be civil about this, can't we?" Said Giotto in a soft drawl, as if separating two quarreling children. Then signore Manfredo and Lorenzo as we agreed your families will continue to be by our side, and we do appreciate all your help in this unfortunate matter." Said Giotto to the two other men who smiled hesitantly at him, stuttering pleasantries and smiling too widely.

"Yes, yes, of course my friends, now if you don't mind I would love to have a private chat with our dear traitor." he said with a sweet smile. The two men vacated the room so quickly and efficiently that it looked almost choreographed.

"Signore Fabio… I'm disappointed about your actions these past months…" Giotto took out a fourth folder from the still opened portfolio and took out three photos, and gently deposited them in front of the rapidly paling man. "We, the Vongola do not take kindly to traitors. These past two days I have been having some very interesting conversations about you."

"W-what? I don't know what you're talking about." Said the man in a barely composed voice, because, suddenly, the boy before him looked dangerous and not so innocent anymore. "G, if you would be so kind to escort Signore Fabio's helper outside?" Said Giotto to his friend, who had already rendered unconscious the bodyguard. He nodded and almost effortlessly carried away the man like a burdensome sack of potatoes.

"…this is an outrage you spineless child, you… agh!" In one moment the man had been looking at the door and then he was suddenly pinned to the table by a deceptively delicate hand in his neck, and an uncomfortable heat, almost burning but not quite."Now, signore, let's talk…" Said a cold and emotionless voice at his side and he stopped breathing in caution, finally recognizing the danger before him.

Outside the door G ignited his twenty-seventh cigarette of the day. He had promised himself not to smoke anymore; after surprising Hayato with one death stick in his mouth. However, the promise was invariably broken at every meeting like this. Each scream coming from the door chipped away his composure and calm, leaving him with twitching and trembling hands, something he could not afford.

Fifteen minutes later, the door opened and a passive Giotto exited the room almost casually. They went to the car parked outside, only to notice the area around it completely covered in craters and scorched areas. A few meters beyond, five men were sprawled completely unconscious.

"You are getting better Hayato." Said Giotto with a soft smile and G frowned at his singed cousin who was still panting slightly and had several grazes of bullets in his clothes. Gokudera took one look at him and G cursed, because he had not managed to extinguish his smoke in time, the teen gave him a cheeky smirk and he knew that he had now a zero chance of making the almost child to stop smoking.

"He should drive us to the hotel, don't you think G?" Continued Giotto and he nodded, because it was almost as good as saying 'I want to talk behind soundproof glass' "Really? Oh… thank you Decimo! I will not disappoint you!" Said the still small teen and G almost, almost smiled at the enthusiastic face, because he knew that nowadays Gokudera gushed and behaved like a saint in front of Giotto in hopes of finally getting the approval of becoming once more Tsuna's bodyguard.

Giotto chuckled but G noticed the forced gesture almost immediately. Since he knew that his boss, his friend, hated such insincere acts. They got inside the car and Gokudera went under the vehicle; checking for traps, listening devices and explosives. He opened every door and checked inside the machinery in almost two minutes, G was grudgingly proud of him.

"He is getting most difficult to deny…" Whispered his friend and G looked sharply at him. The Tsuna issue had become a taboo. It was an unwritten rule that not even the name was to be mentioned by any member of the famiglia, even between them the child was mostly an avoided topic.

"He is becoming one of our best ones… Tumeric cannot stop singing his praises at his 'pupil'." Contiued the blond and G snorted. Since it was true; the CEDEF member was gushing mess every time Hayato was mentioned. The problem was that every single praise was irrefutable and correct. In two years Gokudera had become a truly frightening expert on security and defense. The child was bright almost borderline genius, and with a single mind focus that was a hairline away from obsession.

"Also he hates me more and more each day for taking away his precious Tsuna-sama." Continued Giotto with a surprisingly tone of bitterness, jealousy? "We all miss him…" Said G, because, what else could he say?

"Mm…" Said the blond and G frowned once more, even he could not understand the almost blind devotion his cousin had developed at the small brunette. Ever since that day he had become even more determined to be at his side, sometimes he was worried about what would happen the next time Giotto or Iemitsu rejected his petition.

"He is planning of asking again in December…" He confided Giotto, because whatever it was, it would not be pretty, and Gokudera was beyond the point of being pacified with a warning glance.

"December already?... can't you delay him a little bit? we will be too busy in those days to add an angsty teenager. Especially one who prefers explosives." Half joked Giotto and G saw as Gokudera frowned in the mirror at them, he cursed as he remembered that Tumeric had said something about lip-reading. He nodded sharply at the road and he was satisfied with a small blush in the pale face of the child. He then looked at the almost too innocent looking Giotto and frowned at him. He was taking a petty revenge for the earlier groveling .

"Really, it was too cruel a revenge for some groveling. Don't you think? He only wants to help the one he considers his boss " He chastised his friend who looked a little bit embarrassed at the words. "Sorry… I'm just… irritated…" Said the teen closing his eyes and resting his hands on his forehead, G noticed the faint tremors in the paled hands, and he knew that a few years before his friend would have been almost at the verge of tears by now.

"You didn't…" He asked tentatively, looking at his friend. "He's alive… but he will be in need of a very good doctor. And a long rehabilitation." Whispered the teen and G nodded sharply.

"It's not too late to run you know? With you gone those geezers won't have anyone to turn to, but your brother…. How is the bastard by the way?" He asked only to look at the flinch that the word caused in his friend. He had never managed to get a full account of that night but he had his suspicions. "He is working to the death his victims… eh members. Apparently he has gained a liking to red wine in the last months, father was not amused…"

"Che! He will die first of a bullet that from some liver disease. He should just be grateful is not some weird stuff. Like that guy, Lussuria. I'm sure he is into some pretty heavy drugs." He smiled at the surprised laugh form his friend at his jab, but then stiffened when two small cars appeared behind them. A heartbeat latter, he felt Gokudera starting to make some evasive maneuvers and he clasped his gun. Giotto continued to be sprawled in the seat and looked at him with an almost bored look.

"However, it is too late now for running."

REVIEW?

Sorry for grammar mistakes, and if anybody is kind enough to beta this I would hug him, at least virtually... :) I will try to correct any mistakes if pointed thanks !


	2. To prepare the stage

**Chapter two: To prepare the stage.**

Hibari entered the room in a foul mood; his recently applied bandages were making every move uncomfortable, bringing pain with each pull of the evil strips of cloth. The familiar beep-beep, made him glance at the only resident of the room. He stared at the still form and kept listening to the steady sound; which had mysteriously become a balm to his bad mood.

"I'm back herbivore." Muttered the teen. It was a strange quirk he had developed over time, speaking to the child, telling him his plans, his aspirations for Nanimori, his troubles with crowding herbivores. Somehow this was like speaking to a small animal or a fish. It was safe.

"I heard you have been acting up again." It had taken almost a year for this ritual to begin. "Foolish herbivore you should just behave."

He took the chair at the side of the comatose child and stared at the only human he could find tolerable for long periods of time.

"Kusakabe has finished the arrangement for the reorganization of the disciplinary committee."

It was a testament of his aversion to humanity that only a comatose boy could be tolerated in his presence. Still his face remained impassive and cold, with only the lack of bloodthirst in it. The small frame and pale skin reminded him of a weak animal, a pitiful harmless animal, perhaps a chick that fell of its nest, he mused while graceful fingers touched the soft tresses, yes just like feathers.

"He said something about those fools doubting my strength. I had to correct their suppositions"

The respiratory machine made a sound again. Hibari had hear one of the healer herbivores saying that the boy had caught pneumonia, again, something about damaged lungs and sea water.

The machine signaled a rise in the numbers of breaths. Just like a small animal the little herbivore seemed to sense his anger. He frowned at the child. "This town needs discipline. Otherwise it will become an unsightly place."

The repetitive sound instead of being maddening usually lulled him to calmness, the soft whoosh of the ventilator making him exhale at the same rhythm. Breath In-two heartbeats- breath out.

"The new crowds of herbivores were making a ruckus again in Nanimori, so I bit them to death."

The heartbeat increased and his trance was snapped, with a reproaching frown he stared at the child, the heart monitor marking an accelerated rhythm, it was just three more heartbeats above, but still it was a change. "Of course I'm not hurt, I'm not a weak herbivore like you" a minute later the steady rhythm came again and Hibari went to his own bed and closed his eyes, the sound and the quiet presence lulling him to a deep sleep.

Outside the room a nurse was saved by a doctor from being mauled when she almost went in to take the vitals of the sleeping Hibari.

"Nanako-san! Hibari-san is in there now!" Said the man in a whisper and she blanched at this, she nodded fervently and took her hand away from the knob.

"Uh… it's just I thought I heard someone speaking there…" She said in an uncertain voice, and the doctor smiled slightly at this. "Yes, well, we can't be sure, but a few people have heard voices in that room, especially in the night, we think Hibari-san is talking to our sleeping child."

"Uh? Hibari-sama? No way!" Said the woman in wonder. "Yes, but I believe is a good thing, for both of them, so don't you ever, EVER dare to mention this in Hibari's san face." Said the man gravely, he was the pediatrician in charge of both boys, only because no one else was brave enough to treat Hibari more than once, and because checking on the comatose boy, meant that they could possibly be faced with the feared teenager.

The nurse seemed unconvinced, but nodded glancing at the forbidden room. "Doctor, about that boy… there is not signals of his family?"

The doctor grimaced and shook his head in despair. "No, there is no record of his fingerprints in the systems, at least not in Japan, I sent the information to the international database but there is nothing, this child is inexistent… don't believe that finding his parents would make his situation better… we don't even know if he is going to wake up anyway…"

"But who is paying all this… he has been a patient here for so long…" Said the nurse in a whisper,

"Well at first it was a charity association, but since a year ago an anonymous donor is making monthly deposits for him. I heard the hospital administrator saying that the money is more than the quantities required for his treatment, and it's being deposited in an account for him, in case he ever wakes up"

The nurse eyes glinted at the new information, it was gold for gossip. "Oooh. But who would do this?"

"Who knows, sometimes this happens, some anonymous person taking care of a sick lonely patient, perhaps one of those rich persons who comes here sometimes. Although some one said something about the Hibari family being the benefactor.." The man continued and watched as the nurse's eyes shinned in greed, it was fleeting, but it was there. The young woman was new, he shouldn't be suspicious of her, but the slight smile she gave him was telling him the opposite.

* * *

Xanxus stared at the blond idiot before him; he had always thought that Iemitsu Sawada was a pest. It was not a small thing the power the man commanded, and it baffled him that such a man could be content in remaining as an external advisor. "What do you want me to do with this, Sawada?" In front of him was a black box, inside, glinting was half of the sky ring of the Vongola.

"I thought you knew about the Vongola policy regarding the rings?" The mocking tone of the blond idiot made him bristle and he snarled at the man. "Cut the crap! I tried to kill off the old man, I have been his leashed dog for these past years, and you want me to believe that suddenly I'm a candidate? Do you think I'm a fucking moron?"

Iemitsu Sawada actually had the gall to smirk at him; it was only the reminder of just how quickly the man could beat him into a pulp that stopped Xanxus hand for reaching for his gun.

"I'm merely fulfilling my promise. You are not the only one who believes that the Vongola should change." That made Xanxus pause in his tracks. Surely not…

Xanxus snarled; a deep primitive demonstration of his burning rage. He took the ring in his hand and glared at the still smiling man. "You can take this shit. And you can tell the brat to shove his pity deeply in his ass." The words where said through clenched teeth, he barely stopped himself from throwing the ring at his face.

"Better yet, you can say it yourself. He requests a single fight, since he doesn't have his guardians yet." This was another way of saying that Giotto had been putting off choosing them.

"He has already informed the Cervello, one fight for the sky ring and the seat of the decimo. If you refuse it will be his win by forfeit." Laughed the man before calmly leaving the room and the irate teenager behind, if he jumped slightly at the sound of something very heavy being smashed against the wall, nobody noticed it.

"Such temper…" He sighed and stopped outside his car, the Varia state was medium in size in comparison to the Vongola main House, but still it was enormous. Discretely he took out a small device out of his pocket; he carried it around all the time, since he didn't trust anybody with it.

The small phone-like device was only a small screen with five blue dots blinking innocently. Each one marked the status of one safe house, red meaning in danger, blue meaning no change, and green would indicate that his son was awake and safe. For two years now they had remain in blue, each house had received either a person or an object to protect, even more that one, but only one was the real safe house for his son. They had changed their plan so much along the way, that at the end it had become a real puzzle.

The logistics had been terribly complicated; anyone searching for the true reason of such an operation would be left lost in a sea of misdirection. Not even his own strategists knew about his ruse, everybody thought that Tsuna was in fact in a small house in Rome with the Shimon family.

The blue dots kept their steady on/off like a steady heartbeat; he just hoped that Tsuna would forgive them.

* * *

G stared, before him was a scene that was making his brain slowly melt out of his head.

"Where is it?"

"Fuck y-AAAAHHHH"

"Tut-tut Bad answer, where is my dame student?" Came the deep velvety voice, one that promised an exquisite pain and suffering. "And don't you even dare to say Rome."

Before him was Giotto strapped down to a… device… thing… it?...that seemed to be a love child between a treadmill and an iron maiden, Giotto was actually shackled to the arms and his feet were bare, and the thing was working fast, at his side there was a tall man dressed in an impeccable black suit and matching fedora with an orange stripe, a very familiar fedora.

"Gualterio! How nice for you to join us, this idiot student of mine is being stubborn perhaps you can help me before he gets even more retarded?"

G could never be called a coward, and he would never hesitate to help his best friend and future boss, but his body was paralyzed in fear at the warning in the man's eyes. The dark menacing man pushed a button in the machine which was followed by an electric discharge from the device.

"AAAAAHHGG!" Just how much electricity could pass through those cables? Some part of his traumatized brain mussed while he stared at his friend. "Signore Reborn?"

He had always known that Reborn wasn't actually a baby, but the real thing was even more impressive that rumors and stories. "Perhaps you should stop the thing to let him talk?" The dark glare made him more than a little nervous, before, the sharp black eyes were frightening, but now; the long deadly limbs, and the sharp angles of his face made him terrifying, it was like facing a hungry lion bare handed.

"Stop it! You lunatic!" Screamed Giotto and G stared in pity at his friend, already suspecting what the topic was.

"Mmmm… well, at least your resistance has upped." Chuckled Reborn and stopped the machine abruptly, which only made Giotto fall in a bundle of chains, knees and elbows, it looked really painful.

"Y-you bastard…" Giotto was gasping and trembling from the electric discharges, his muscles contracting painfully.

"Uhm… perhaps is this about Tsuna?"

The sharp eyes were back, now focused on him and G swallowed. "I returned yesterday. Only to find that not only my dame Student is missing, but that my stupid student launched a challenge against Xanxus."

That was new, why would Giotto do such a thing?

"I will ask once again, where is my dame-student?"

"Safe!" Snarled his friend and G grimaced when a gunshot grazed the blond, but the blue eyes where still firm and very, very pissed off. G started to list the things necessary for the funeral.

"He is safe; also he hasn't come out of his coma. Otherwise Iemitsu would have been notified." Said Giotto and Reborn stared at him in clear annoyance.

"You and Iemitsu better pray that he never wakes up then, either he will become a traitor or will become a waste of space after being abandoned by his family." Snarled Reborn and G watched as Giotto flinched at the accusation.

"He is safe…" He said once more, and G had heard the same argument over and over, about how it was better if the boy was protected, safe, unharmed.

Alone.

"You, and Iemitsu will regret this and we will be paying the price for it." Said Reborn and actually kicked Giotto in the head, now in his adult form, the act seemed much more violent and cruel, especially because the already pathetic appearance of Giotto. "You and Iemitsu fulfilled his deepest fear. You betrayed and broke a promise to a close member of your family" Reborn crouched before Giotto and captured the pair of blue eyes, his gaze unforgiving and hard. "Regardless of your good intentions. This is something that all the Vongola will remember."

Reborn made a silent signal at him and acknowledging the already foul mood of the man he didn't hesitate to follow. "Don't pity him Gualterio. I was easy on him."

G hated the fact that it was true, he could have been even harsher, but perhaps the challenge against Xanxus made him reconsider leaving a too damaged Giotto behind.

"By your expression I assume that he didn't tell you about his lovely plans?" Asked the hitman and G stared at him in trepidation. "Iemitsu gave Xanxus half of the sky ring, the whole Vongola and the Varia is in chaos right now; the rumors reached me all the way to Guatemala."

"Guatemala?"

"I have been searching for someone."

"Excuse me sir, but I have to assume that your absence this past months is related to this change? Has the curse…"

Reborn stopped him with a glare and G bowed his head in a silent apology, the arcobaleno curse was a heavy guarded secret after all. "Make sure he is ready and on time for his battle."

G nodded and left him.

Reborn frowned and continued walking until he reached the ninth's office, the tall mahogany doors still imposing and old, he could barely hear the muffled voices inside. He knocked and the face of the storm guardian appeared inside.

"He has been waiting for you" He nodded and stepped inside. Before him were the ninth, and his storm guardian. Both seemed tense and deeply stressed. "I apologize for making you waiting Boss; it's been a long time." He went down to his knees before the man and rose at his signal.

"Reborn, I hope Giotto is still alive?" Said the ninth, he seemed old, too much old.

"He is, but he will wish for another thing before the week is over." He promised with a dark smirk. The ninth nodded and frowned at him. "I must say it's extremely strange to see you in this form."

Reborn smirked again, two years, they seven arcobaleno had been in an upheaval for two years. "You read my report?" The ninth nodded and sighed. "When your flame disappeared two years ago, I must confess that I was expecting for some sort of a Judgment Day, yet you report implies that the balance of the tri-ni-set is still intact."

"The curse is present." Long fingers took out of his suit a yellow pacifier and Coyote noticed a slight difference in it, a white halo around it, like a brush of mist. "One year ago the pacifiers suddenly went transparent, five of us went into a coma, Mammon, Lal, Colonello, Fon and I. Then three months after that, we woke up, the pacifiers were like this and then we started to change back, little by little."

"You have no idea what could have been the cause?" The ninth had seen Reborn panic a few times, three times in fact, but the face of the small baby wearing an almost desperate frown would be etched in his memory forever. "Lal returned six months ago, she has been working nonstop, but not even the CEDEF network seems to be able to help."

"No, we have checked with _him_, the curse and the tri ni set are intact, but there is something interfering, whatever it is… we can only wait. Verde was especially infuriated by our transformation and disappeared; I was searching for him in South America."

"The other three are unaffected?" Exclaimed the ninth in surprise. That would mean...

"Only those in direct contact with the Vongola are like this. Thus my return, whatever is happening is related with the Vongola or its enemies. If we can find an answer it will be here."

Nono sighed once more; he had been doing that a lot, he mused. "So we wait… How is your strength?"

"One hundred percent boss. Just like old times" The smirk he received made him feel a little better.

"I would like to give you good news but things here have been getting tense. Giotto refuses to appoint his guardians, and the families are getting nervous about the lack of an official successor, and last night Iemitsu asked me for half of the Sky ring."

Reborn frowned darkly, he hated sloppy jobs, and he never, ever made a half-ass mission, while he had appointed substitute teachers for his idiot student it was not the same. "He gave it to Xanxus." He watched the flicker of pain in the ninth's eyes, and hated to be the one to break the news to the man.

"The battle is in two days." He was sure that the families had been notified already, there was no stopping this, not if they didn't want to initiate a bloody mess.}


	3. Connections

**The lost Lamb **

**Chapter 3: Connections**

* * *

Giotto smiled bitterly, before him were half a dozen men, all of them unconscious. His clothes were pristine, despite the fact that he had battled for at least twenty minutes. He remembered the harsh lesson Reborn had taught him about being always presentable, ALWAYS.

Shivering a little at the reminder he brushed nonexistent dust from his jacket. "Truce… sure" A trap, even before he had finished reading the missive he had known it was a trap.

How he hated the mafia.

Clenching his fists he left the battered men behind, his arms trembling he turned around, knowing that if he helped them it was as good as a death sentence for the now injured men. Their boss would punish them further. He started to leave when something caught his eye; before him was a pink rabbit, a large, pink, fanged rabbit, and it was looking at him intently and waving-at-him. "Nufufufu…"

He groaned when he heard a small creepy laugh behind him, the rabbit was now a small purple giraffe a very small giraffe that looked more like a pony with a too large neck. He knew that creepy annoying laugh; he needed to escape, now!

"It was really amusing to see your little exhibition." A finger brushed his cheek and he let out a chocked scream, beside him was that green haired menace! Giotto clenched his eyes praying for a little more of patience, because he could not kill the idiot without making a lot of problems. "What do you want Daemon?" He asked politely, with a forced smile that felt heavy and tight. 'You can't kill him, you can't kill him, you can´t kill him!´

"Oh so cold, even though we have been friends for soooo long…" Came the amused response accompanied with that too wide smile, and Giotto froze, because the simple phrase was enough to make a shiver run his body. "I'm not your friend!" he said through clenched teeth.

"Oh then that means we are more than friends?" Asked the other boy with that horrible twisted grin and Giotto felt all the blood in his face drain directly to his stomach, which in turn started to churn in protest. "No" He deadpanned in his best poker face while restraining the urge to run and keep running.

"Oh, that almost hurt. Perhaps you would hear my humble request?" Asked the green haired teen and he found clear blue eyes glaring in suspicion; because everybody knew that the teenager was more than a little imbalanced, and was dangerous despite his frail appearance.

"Why would I make any kind of promise to you?" The giraffe, he noted in a detached way, now had three heads and was starting to skate above a puddle.

"Aww you're so evil! My dearest friend!" Said the illusionist with a grimace and a shy look, his eyes blinking merrily. Creep, he was a creep! "Nufufufu, just an innocent bet, if you are right and my claims of being Demon Spade are just…. How did you say it? 'Psychotic delusions' then I promise not to approach you ever again."

Giotto glared more. "Just that?" He had been trying to get rid of the menace for years; surely it wouldn't be so easy?

"Of course not silly!" He laughed and Giotto almost gave a step back at the sweet endearment. "If I'm right you will be making me your mist guardian." He said once more.

The blond just smirked and turned around, his fast pace echoing once more. He felt the other approaching, and with lightning fast reflexes he caught the other by the neck. "Look, I don't like you and I'm pretty sure you don't like me either, but above of all, there is not a chance in hell that I would trust a Vongola ring in your hands." His fist clenched just a little and the other glared at him in barely contained disgust. "If you ever come near me again without a valid reason I'm going to make you regret it! Allied families or not!"

The hand clenched once and then let go of the prey, the illusionist just smiled pityingly at him and waved with a half sneer. "We shall see Giotto…"

"Giotto?" Came the voice of G and the blond sighed in aggravation. "What happened, we couldn't hear nor see anything inside the alley."

"Sorry there was a giraffe"

"What?" Giotto laughed at the dumbfounded stare and just shook his head "Daemon…" He said and G just nodded with a glare.

"Him again? What the hell is wrong with him?" Almost shouted his right man, and Giotto chuckled at the indignation in his voice, G hated the illusionist with a passion because he always managed to bypass all his carefully placed defense and plans.

"Let's go home alright? I'm tired."

His friend nodded and they went to the car where three more men were standing tense and with frowns of annoyance at the delay in the schedule. Giotto smiled at them and opened his arms to show he was uninjured. "Let's go home." The men visibly calmed but still remained watchful and tense.

G stared at his friend and at the brand new gauntlets in his hands, they were tick and perfectly made for his hands, and G knew that Giotto used them to avoid skin contact more than to avoid injuries to his hands.

"Giotto, Iemit… the External advisor called earlier, he said that everything is ready." Said G staring directly in his friend eyes and Giotto tensed and smiled. "Oh, that's good. Would you..." He was cut off by the serious gaze directed at him and G impassive face. "Giotto, before being a Vongola, or my father son, or your right hand, I'm your friend… what the hell are you and Iemitsu planning?"

Giotto stared at his friend, for three years he had lied to every person in reach, always presenting the ideal image of the successor, being and obedient and calm son and the reasonable leader, being a good dog in training. He was just tired. "If… if I tell you I want you to promise not to intervene, not matter what happens…" He looked at his first and best friend in almost desperation; he just needed to talk, to let it out of his chest.

"Giotto…"

"Promise or just forget you even asked!" Came the harsh reply because the heated glaze and the barely hint of amber in those blue eyes were the only proof that his friend was still inside this 'decimo'.

"I swear idiot, of course I swear."

* * *

Croquant Bouche had been the mist guardian of the ninth boss of the Vongola from the very beginning, while the sun and lighting guardians had been changed after the death of the originals ones, because it was an undeniable truth: a guardian can be replaced, the sky cannot.

The sky was the foundation of every element, without it, the elements would be lost, and the family would fall in ruin and chaos. It was a cold truth: between a guardian and the boss the last would take precedence, always.

This was the reason why the family was in turmoil over the fact that the tenth refused to name his guardians. And the worst of it was that they could not force him, he could be coerced, threatened, but no one could choose for him. And Giotto knew this.

The ninth's mist guardian had been away from the main house for over two years now, he had been ordered to America ever since the cradle incident, with orders to squash very rumor about that day. Because of that, the letter ordering him to return immediately took him by surprise.

He looked over at the polluted gray sky of the city. New York was truly a challenging city, he had been working non-stop for three months just to keep their allies in line, the local families were becoming too wily and they needed to be reminded of the power of the Vongola.

The cradle incident was a tight guarded secret, but he knew that Giotto was one of the few who knew the complete truth behind it. Why would he challenge Xanxus then? Revenge? Hate?

"Kufufufu… so the little lion wants to show-off his fangs?" Croquant stared at the blue haired teen, Mukuro had been a real challenge to train; the boy was truly frightening in his power and development, which had taken him almost fifteen years to manage, this kid had learn in mere two years. "As a mist user you must realize that there is something else about this…" He replied to the amused teen. "Are you coming with me to see the challenge?"

Mukuro stared at him in surprise, and he smiled at the rare sight "Oya? I thought this was a Vongola secret?" there, that shark like smile. "Must I remind you that I am not Vongola?" He had, over the years, subtly tried to make the boy part of the family, however, like a true mist the boy continued to escape from his fingers. "I know, however I thought you would like to see Tsunayoshi once more?"

"Kufufufu, such nice bait mist guardian, but you're right, it's about time for me to see my little fish. Perhaps to finally convince him to join me. Kufufufu" By the time he raised his eyes the teenager had disappeared without a trace. Croquant shivered at the blatant display of power.

"Such a troubling child…" Mukuro was a wild cannon ball right now, he had abstained from attacking directly the mafia, but delighted himself in causing as much chaos within the families as he could, and the only ones he respected were the Vongola and only the main branch.

But there was still rage and hate in him in large quantities, if the teenager were to become active in his hate…

The ninth's mist guardian could only be grateful at Iemitsu's son, without him the wild cannon ball could easily become a time bomb.

* * *

Tsuna dreamed.

At first he dreamed of a myriad of flames being circled by black ones, like a pack of hyenas circling their prey. The flames were in clusters, but all of them connected by multicoloured treads, together but apart, a whole. The black flames looked hungry and kept launching themselves to the group of flames, but there was something separating the two, a small white wall made of soft light.

There was something in the back of his mind, pushing him, guiding. He should protect those flames against the black ones; he needed to reach at the barrier.

It hurt, a lot; the black was reaching inside him and tearing him apart, as if piercing his very soul. There were a warm hand in his shoulder and a soft voice in his ear, it told him to sleep.

He dreamed of water and salt and violent movements and burning, so much burning, the heat in his chest of his struggling flame contrasting with the biting cold of the water that crashed against his skin.

He dreamed of five small flames, they looked small, yet enormous, 'strange'; one yellow, one red, two in blue, and an indigo one. They were caged, trapped; he was supposed to help them, but how? There were other three connected to the others, but he didn't recognize those, so he left them alone, but the others he knew… he had to help. He reached with his flame and this new strange power inside him.

It hurt, it was burning again, burning and tearing him apart, leaving him weak, so weak, so he slept again to avoid more pain.

Then he dreamed of hands. Hands that hurt him, prodded, pinched, firm hands that opened his mouth and put something plastic and hard in his throat all the way in his chest, it hurt. Foreign, cold air being forcibly shoved in his lungs. He reached inside for his flame but it was too small, and weak and so hurt. So he slept.

He then dreamed of loneliness, he could only feel cold, emptiness, a horrible feeling of being alone in an unknown place. Inside him, his flame reached out for the familiar orange warmth that used to watch over him, the one that always protected him. But he could not reach it; he stretched his flame once more and looked for a vibrant red one that usually was next to the orange one. Desperate he searched for red, another, and for a brilliant yellow that usually made him scared.

His flame seemed to wail in anguish when he could not find even one color, not blue or indigo, or the cheery orange of his earliest memories, he stretched and stretched his flame, desperate for warmth, for kinship, he could not feel anything in the cold emptiness of this place, alone, alone, alone.

So he slept once more.

There was a flame. Cried out in joy his soul. It was purple, small and undeveloped but it was there, it jumped around like a caged animal, violent and agitated, but it was warmth, a wonderful warmth after so much cold, and Tsuna could only stretch and stretch just to feel that speck of heat. Then the flame left and he felt the coldness even more suffocating, the emptiness more crushing.

He called out for the purple. 'Don't go', 'please' 'come back!' Then the horrible hands were again on him, the cold hurting hands with the prods and bursts of pain and the cold air in his lungs, he retreated inside himself.

The purple flame usually reminded him of a cloud, it was unpredictable in its comings and goings, so he stayed alert at the smallest hint of that warmth, and cherished each minute of the light it provided him in his cold and dark prison. Sometimes, he could almost hear a voice; some words filtering thought the thick wall of his prison.

'Crowd' 'bit' 'herbivore' this one he heard a lot, 'Nanimori', 'fight', 'order', 'safe'.

The words were in another language, one he used to speak, Japanese?

But mostly he was content to watch the flame shrink and expand, swirl and spin, it was amusing to him to match a feeling with each movement of the flame, it would swell in anger and shrink when in pain, it would sometimes merrily flicker in contentment like the steady flame of a peaceful candle, then suddenly it would ablaze in irritation, startling his own flame and making him nervous.

Then the flame would leave and Tsuna would wait in his cold prison, from time to time he would stretch his flame once more, searching for the others, he would call and call, but he never felt anything beyond cold emptiness.

So he slept and waited for the purple, cloudy flame.

* * *

Gokudera Hayato clenched his teeth in annoyance and almost bit his tongue in the process, he adjusted his glasses and once more grumbled in annoyance at the papers in his hands, there was a storm outside, and that meant that his plan would be delayed at least twelve hours and forty-nine minutes, he grimaced when the injuries in his legs hurt more with the increased cold and humidity.

"Dammit!"

He shoved the papers in his bag and frowned once more, he had managed to lose those idiots following him, enemy and friend alike, but now he was hungry, cold, injured and in need of a smoke, he mused while looking morosely at the drenched package of white sticks.

Gokudera Hayato glared at the merry light of the port in Salerno, one the most beautiful ports in Italy, however he was just interested in the ship number twenty-seven in the port.

Now, what exactly was the reason for stalking a ship in the middle of a storm at 3 am? You may wonder, but for this we may have to go back a few months back.

-Two months previously-

Gokudera Hayato in his best suit, his tie perfectly placed and all the buttons closed stared with a serious gaze at the two men before him.

"So, what number is this one? Twenty?" Asked Giotto in amusement expecting at least a frown, but the child only stared at him "It would be twenty-eight, sir." If Giotto was surprised he didn't show it, but he looked at the external advisor at his side, they were in the veranda of the main ballroom, while inside, people celebrated the ninth's birthday.

"Gokudera Hayato, you have demonstrated great ability and commitment these past years, to be truthful you have surpassed my expectations, however if anything the only thing you're lacking is experience, that is something no book or instructor is going to be able to give to you"

Gokudera remained calm and stared at the man in silent request, all his concentration was in relaxing his hands and in not clenching his teeth at the words.

"You could be part of the Vongola as you are now, why this stubborn attitude? We have told you over and over that Tsuna will return to us one day, when the new Decimo is established and the threat over the candidates is lessened. Why must you insist on making things more dangerous for everybody?"

That did hurt, and it almost was enough to make him waver, but he remained firm, and his mouth firmly closed, there was no need to repeat his question, he only waited for a yes or a no. But, he could feel his almost nonexistent patience coming to an end, even though Fon-sensei and Tumeric had gone to extreme lengths to make him more tolerant.

Iemitsu sighed and frowned at the brat in front of him, over the years Gokudera Hayato had become first a pest, then a nuisance only to suddenly develop into a promising candidate to protect his most precious person, but still, this pup was just that, intelligent, crafty, very well trained but not an expert. He wasn't THE best.

However, the stormy green eyes were fixed on him, the violence and anger tightly held in by his resolution, he would have made an excellent storm guardian, mussed the External advisor.

He was just like a storm, relentless.

"Find him" He said finally and Giotto gasped at his side, and the green eyes narrowed in confusion. "That's your last test Gokudera, I give you a year to find him, and if you can, then I will consider you worthy of being his bodyguard and a true member of the Vongola. I will ask for the approval of the ninth myself."

Gokudera felt his knees almost shake at the rush of adrenaline, a thousand plans and comebacks he had made now useless, in reality he had been expecting another refusal. This was just unexpected.

"A year?"

"Three hundred sixty-five days counting from today."

For a moment Iemitsu believed that the teenager would refuse, because he was asking to outwit the CEDEF best tacticians and the Vongola information net, it would be daunting for the best ones, for a child it would be mind-blowing.

"Yes sir." Said the child who was pale as a candle, but still firm, Iemitsu just nodded and left. Giotto was covering his eyes with his hand and was trembling faintly.

"You are and idiot Hayato!" Grumbled the teenager and Gokudera flinched when the normally stoic boy glared at him in agitation. "What will I say to G? Do you have any idea how worried he will be? Everybody will, all of us!"

"Excuse me?" He asked in befuddlement, because; even though he knew that; for some reason, his idiot cousin kind of worried about him, he could not understand why anybody would else give a damn about him leaving. He felt a pair of arms grasping his shoulders and sad, angry eyes directed at him. "G, Tumeric, Cozart, and even Shamal, and many of the people in Vongola cares about you!"

"Shamal? Come on! He hates me!" He said in defiance. "And you… you don't trust me and you don't want me near Tsuna-sama!"

"Because I don't want either of you hurt you idiot! And we all care, all of us. Even Shamal, he asks about your wellbeing, always, he begged the ninth to take you in, he and G did…" Confessed the blond and Gokudera gaped at him, one look at the clear blue eyes told him Giotto was telling the truth.

"I promised… I promised him I would not leave him alone!" Half shouted the silverette and Giotto let go of him as if burned, blue met green and both looked away, Giotto, frustrated and sad at the half accusation in that phrase, all of them had promised that.

"Iemitsu said that he gave orders not to contact us unless he woke up…" Whispered Giotto and Gokudera gasped at the implications, but the image of a comatose Tsuna in an abandoned sterile room, waking up completely alone was not better that an awake Tsuna being alone for two years.

"Then I better hurry…" Said the boy, with newfound determination, it was not too late to keep his promise.

"Hayato" Called Giotto and he looked back "Said goodbye to G, and say Hi to Tsuna when you see him." Gokudera smiled sincerely for the first time at Giotto and nodded curtly, leaving behind his indecisions.

_-END OF FLASHBACK-_

The only thing he had not told them, was that he had gifted Tsuna with his own invention, a small transmitter, the kind used to keep track of wild animals, it let small signals at random times, it was small and thin, just a small anklet, flesh colored. He had put it on him after the attack when he had been still consumed in shame at having lost his charge in the middle of the battle. It was rudimentary and only gave a general location in an area. But it was untraceable without the right code.

"The UMA pin is a success." He muttered in satisfaction. He checked the map with the marked dots, there were sixteen signals that he had registered in almost two years, then, they suddenly stopped, either he had been divested of any material possession or the anklet had stopped working.

He was now waiting for the chance of boarding the ship unnoticed, he had readied food, water and other supplies, he had calculated the days it would take to reach land, this ship was a direct one, no detours, so the food would be enough, barely.

He hated the sea, it made him sick and the salt always irritated his pale skin. And it would be torture to remain in that enclosed space for so long. But it was the only way to leave the continent unnoticed.

He glared at the island marked in the map; a circle indicated the very last signal. Why would the CEDEF boss send his son to Japan once more? It just made no sense.

* * *

The small white marshmallow was squished and expanded in a rhythmic dance. "You may go now Arturo" Before being engulfed by a white haired teenager. The mare ring in his hand let out a spark and his subordinate scrambled to his feet, leaving the room. Even thought he was not the 'boss' of the family it was a question of time.

Byakuran smiled in amusement at his subordinate while inside he was screaming in frustration, two years ago he had suddenly connected with one of his counterparts in a parallel world; the connection had lasted a mere two hours, but he had received enough information to made him giddy with excitement, but then; it had shut down. However, he had found the origin of the disruption.

The wretched Vongola, whatever was blocking him, was coming from the clams. So it was with mounting irritation that he learned that the two Vongola cubs were about to kill each other for the ring of the sky, the one that never belonged to neither in the other universes, the one that should rest in the hand of certain brunet.

He had been amused and deeply intrigued when he could not find even a speck of Tsunayoshi-kun in this universe, instead, there was another son of the Ninth in the scene, a blond one that seemed so alike Tsunayoshi-kun that made him mad, but still, not a trace of his brunette playmate.

Iemitsu Sawada had married Nana and they got their bundle of joy almost immediately, a boy, whom they called Tsunayoshi, then something happened in Japan and suddenly every trace of the boy and the woman disappeared. Until two years ago when one of his infiltrated men had caught in video a blur in a corridor, a flame that he could recognize anywhere, a sky flame that he had fought and dominated so many times, and still could not stop searching for.

And yet, it was Xanxus and Giotto who would fight for the sky ring, and not a whisper of a third heir.

Perhaps it was time to contact the Cervello?

* * *

**WAIT!**

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	4. Infighting

**Believe me, not even I can believe that I updated this fast... Wao...  
**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Infighting**

Gokudera moaned at the swaying of the boat continued merrily, they were docking already! Why did the damn ship had to keep moving? It was a commercial ship; that transported electrical goods and common chemicals to Japan, he had chose it because of the total innocent nature of the trade, and it was one of the few cargo ships that were only that.

He had heard the previous night how two men of the crew complained about a damaged engine; so they were going to the port to repair it. Before getting into the open sea.

The teenager growled at the news, but he could do nothing, he had no choice but take this route. He noticed with glee how the crew left the boat and he sneaked out of the semi-empty compartment he was occupying.

He had made a panel to hide the space, it was rudimentary, but one look would not be enough to find it. It was hot, really, stiflingly hot. He snuck out and found the kitchen, he raided it, making sure of only taking odd stuff that would not be missed, the ship was a big one, enough that there were enough hiding places and the nature of their trade made for a very small crew.

He abandoned his safe haven and spied to the exterior, his eyes opened in wonder, Singapore! They were in Singapore, they had made good time then, twenty-three days… More than half the distance! Satisfied, he walked around the more open space and looked longingly at the exotic looking port, seeing all kind of people mingling down. But he had to stay hidden and safe; any detour now would mean failure.

He continued to stretch his legs and went inside his hiding place as soon as he heard the crew starting to return.

Latter in the afternoon he spied the ship and heard the crew nervously chattering between them, from what he could gather, there was trouble in the docks, so they had planned to leave early to avoid trouble. He smiled to himself.

Two hours later, Gokudera woke up at the sound of screams and shots, as well as explosions near, it seemed that the captain was a smart one, it really looked like trouble, this were explosions from grenades and heavy arms, bad, bad news.

He sighed in relief when they left the port, one hour passed in quiet and calm and then he heard it, steps, two pair of them, that he had not registered before. He knew every crew member by voice, look and sounds they made while walking, as well as their duties."…why we are in this lowly boat?" drawled a bored voice.

"Shhhhh We must be extremely QUIET!"

"You shut up! This is beyond acceptable for the likes of me! Ewww is that a rat?"

"I'M HUNGRY!"

Three, he amended, there were three idiots in the boat, one of them sounded like a child, a very small, annoying one. And for his bad luck, they were talking in Italian. The bomber went into pure panic mode, what should he do? If the new stowaways were discovered… then the crew would conduct a search for more, and that was unacceptable.

They were traveling at an average speed of ten to twelve knots… that meant that they still had at least ten, no, perhaps twelve more days of traveling… he eyed his refuge, two teenagers; he calculated, they had sound young enough, and their steps didn't sound too heavy, they could fit in the space, it would be annoying and kind of uncomfortable, but nothing compared to the three months he had lived in the streets…

"hey! Estupidos!" He whispered and reached out from the compartment grabbing the two teenagers to his hidden spot, glaring his best death glare and making the universal sign for silence.

The two were either very stupid o very surprised because they only stared wide eyed at him. One was very tan and had black hair, his face was an interesting mix between European and Asiatic features, while the other was clearly and painfully Italian, then was the kid, it was… remarkable… with wide green eyes and afro like hair, and clad in a bodysuit with cow print.

"Shut up! If the crew discovers you then were all are fish-food" The two idiots were strangely familiar, but he could not place the faces…

"Yare, yare… why would such a commoner order me around?" Gokudera suddenly flinched, that stupid green hair! That curly girly fashion, the stupid face, h-how could he forget?

"T-the stupid bovino!" He chocked while staring a one of his worst memories from when he still lived with his family. The idiot had the impudence to actually smile at him!

"Ara? How do you know me? Well, it's true that I'm very famous!"

"Lampo is he your EXTREME friend? Mmm you look kinda familiar…" Gokudera launched himself at the black haired menace; the other teenager was older than him, perhaps closer to G age, so the task was not an easy one. "SHUT-UP-YOU-MORON! The people in the ship will hear us!" He whispered harshly, he was reconsidering his plan of changing ships, but, he didn't understand Indonesian that well…

"Yare, yare, such a violent boy, who are you by the way?"

"I-I… I'm Antonio, and I ran away from home…" He said without a pause, patting himself in the back for his well-rehearsed, and well planned forty-seventh back-story.

"Ooooh" Said Lampo with a bored gaze. "Me too, well me and Lambo." Gokudera snorted and looked at the pair of idiots. "Your parents weren't very creative were they" He drawled in a bored voice.

"Mmmm, no they weren't." Said the boy in the same lazy tone that was making Gokudera really, nicely, mad. "But the brat is my cousin, not my brother. That means he is the son of my uncle, you see." A thick vein was starting to form in Gokudera's forehead.

"HAHA Lambo-sama could never have such an idiot for a brother! He is my subordinate! HAHAHA!"

Gokudera pinned the boy with a plastic bottle of juice, and the poor Lambo passed out instantly. "HEY! That was EXTRE…!" Now he was pointing his gun to the black haired moron. He should abandon the ship, learning Indonesian would be a breeze over this, he mused.

"Shut the fuck up! They will find us! W-H-I-S-P-E-R" The two were now wide eyed but nodded in silence and Gokudera let out a sigh. "Look, I really, really need to make it to Japan as fast as possible, and I don't fancy to be sent to the police! I have food and water here, and I can teach you how to remain unseen, but we have to be careful!"

The two acquiesced and an uncomfortable silence settled over the small space; then the bovino-idiot suddenly looked wide eyed at him. "Uh… I thought this was an Italian ship… why did you say Japan, did you take the wrong ship?"

Gokudera looked at the pair of idiots looking at him in silent pity, and face palmed.

* * *

Mukuro arrived at the Vongola Mansion with a half scowl, while he didn't hate the Vongola per se, he didn't felt comfortable entering by his own wish. It was only a matter of principle. Chikusa and Ken were both in Germany; searching for a very special ring he had heard off, a little ring from nightmares.

The frown became a full one when he could not sense the warmth and soft sky flame anywhere near. Perhaps he was outside? Doubtful, he mussed, the Vongola warded the child like a dragon guarded its treasure; in the deepest part of its cave.

He absently nodded to Croquant and gave a half respectful bow to the ninth, just in the line between respect and disinterest. He would not kneel like a horse before its master. He was not his boss.

He continued to search through the house, under the watchful eyes of the Vongola members who recognized him and the curious ones of those who didn't.

"Please tell me Giotto-san!" The voice was unfamiliar, but the name not, so he walked faster, in search of the owner of the voice. He found himself in one of the gardens, the one, he remembered, closest to the little fish rooms.

There were three people. The candidate for Tenth boss, the son of the Shimon Famiglia and a small red head who looked eerily similar to the Shimon member, a relative perhaps?

His eye activated and he felt himself being surrounded by illusions, making him blend with his surroundings, his presence completely hidden from all. Even he knew of the infamous Vongola intuition, so he stayed far enough to be safe.

"Giotto, I have been keeping my promise, but right now this is hurting Enma. Please, as a friend, I ask you for permission to let Enma know the truth." The Shimon was angry, Mukuro realized, behind the calm and polite words he was pretty pissed off.

"Cozart… I can't… okay. Fine!" The boy let himself fall ungracefully to the soft grass and the other two followed, the child with a wince of pain.

Mukuro saw the small body and noticed the stiff spine and the telltale economy of movement of those who are in too much pain to be able to move without aggravating one injury or another. He spied the bandages peeking from every visible opening of the too large clothes the child was wearing; possibly to minimize pain. What he could see of the face was also not pretty, there were four angry parallel lines in the cheek, either from an animal or human nails, the neck was also heavily bandaged. Who was this boy?

"Enma, You remember three years ago when Tsuna became sick?" Started the blond and Mukuro almost went closer to better hear. "Well, it was lie; he was hurt in an attack, here. And he went into a coma." He clenched his jaw to avoid echoing the cry of surprise that the small child let out, but he could feel himself going enraged, neither Croquant nor himself knew of this. Only of Xanxus betrayal! "Wait, Enma, let me finish. Okay?"

"He was hurt, and he lost his flame… we waited for him to wake up but… time passed and then… it was decided to hide him, until he became healthy again. You understand Enma? Nobody could know that the son of the CEDEF was so vulnerable, and also everybody knows that he is very precious to everybody here… he was in danger."

"You send him away? Is he with Gokudera-san then?" Mukuro saw the blond flinch at the second name and his interest grew. The boy called Enma was clearly upset. "No, he was sent alone to a safe house…"

"WHAT? Why? Why would you do such a thing? Is he okay? Has he woke up? W-why would you do such a cruel thing?" Now he was crying Mukuro noticed in annoyance, but he himself was pretty enraged, he remembered the nightmares that Tsunayoshi used to have, and it always involved being left alone in small solitaire places filled with monsters.

A nightmare come true then.

"Y-you IDIOT!" He had lost the last part of the altercation in his musings but apparently the child had hear enough, and was now running like a hysterical teenager girl.

"I told you" Said the Vongola heir to his friend; he was looking more weary than preoccupied with the answer from the child, like one who had faced the same reaction several times. "Giotto… You know that Enma was also sent away for his own protection… and you can see how well that worked." Groaned the one named Cozart. The pair remained in silence, trying to come to terms with their thoughts.

"Where is Hayato?" Asked the redhead, he too looked more weary than angry and was now sprawled in the grass.

"What happened to Enma? Who hurt him?" Answered Giotto and his friend snorted at the avoidance at his own question. "Who else? That bitch who dares to call herself his mother. I went in a surprise visit and found the woman beating the lights out of him. She was beyond drunk… Of course I took him to the main house, not even Mafiosi can cause him more damage than her."

'Because she is his family' was unvoiced, but Giotto felt the accusation in the tale.

"We didn't do it to hurt him… and he is in a coma"

"Yes, but we won't know if it hurt him until he wakes up, isn't? After that day, there had not been even one attack to the main house. You, or me, we could understand why that decision was made, but… at his age, would you, truthfully, be okay to be discarded like that?" The blond flinched but didn't answer. The other seated himself and let a heavy hand land in the other's back. "I know you did it out of love for him, but he is going to be beyond hurt for it."

"If he wakes up…"

"When he wakes up…" Mukuro had heard enough, and it was time to get some answers, so he revealed himself and frowned when only the Shimon boy got a surprise look in his face. "You heard the story Mukuro. Say whatever you need to say" Said the Vongola heir.

Mukuro felt himself stiffen when that pair of blue eyes stared at him in defiance; this guy should bow and beg for forgiveness, not swell in his self-righteousness. "Well, I only came to ask for his location, after all I promised to snatch him away if you didn't take good care of my little fish."

"He isn't your anything Rokudo Mukuro. And no, I won't tell you where he is."

"Kufufufu no worries I have my ways to find out." His trident materialized itself and he launched his whole strength to try to snatch the information from the other subconscious, threading and weaving through memories, dreams and nightmares. Then he felt something pulling him to the earth with a crushing weight.

The Shimon boy was pointing at him with his hands, in one there was gleaming red ring and he was pushed, no, attracted to the earth by an invisible force. "Cozart let him go; I don't want to start a fight!"

"He attacked first!" Said the Cozart guy and Mukuro noticed with relief when the pressure disappeared, he got up and glared at the pair before him. "You don't know." He stated in a surprised tone. "You claim for him to be safe and you don't even know, where or how he is?"

"It's for his…"

"You are _afraid._" He stated. He had tasted the fear in his very soul, the fear of losing, the fear of caring even more. "You are worried, true. And you're truthfully trying to protect and care for him… but you are also afraid of him being snatched away. You don't trust yourself to be able to protect him and not for _anyone_ here to do it."

"Kufufufu…. HA, HA, HA!" it was hilarious; he had heard of the mighty Vongola tenth who was young, yet already feared, who had strength beyond his age and body built. Who was scared for his safety blanket to be taken away?

"You coward! You don't deserve his trust. Even in that cursed cell he always trusted in you, in his precious family to come and get him. To not abandon him" He ignored the Shimon heir and grabbed the blond by his collar, giving a precise punch to the pale face.

"Don't worry little mouse of the Vongola, I shall find him and rid yourself of such burden." He snarled at him and looked in satisfaction at the widening of the eyes and the pale face, then bowed from the waist and let his illusions hide his presence once more. He didn't trust himself not to kill the idiot. What did he know about the unconscious mind? Of the paths they could wander in when in dreams or when in the border of death, he was a fool to believe the mind to be an on-off light bulb.

Especially the mind of a flame wielder. Well perhaps this would open the eyes of his little naive fish...

Vongola didn't deserve such tool, such power. But he would find his little pet and hopefully convince him to find revenge.

* * *

Iemitsu Sawada stared at the only man that could really, easily, make his live a living hell. While the external organization maintained its independence, and was a powerhouse on its own, they were still part of the Vongola and under the boss.

"I want a real answer Iemitsu."

So now he was faced to his boss, who was looking at him with a stern face that reminded him of his school days.

"In San Ma…" A sharp hand gesture stopped his words. "I know that the two houses of San Marino are a decoy, after we retired the statement of him being dead, I supervised those safe houses myself and the security is too mild."

Iemitsu clasped his hands, he was cornered, he could not lie to his boss, it was a basis for execution or at least a heavy punishment to be caught in a direct lie. "The Shimon Boss contacted me; their safe house in Rome was attacked last night. Nobody was in it, but they are concerned about being attacked once more. I understand your concern Iemitsu, but this charade is putting us and our allies at risk."

"Boss…" He started once more but the icy glare made him close his mouth. "Let me finish. The allies and all the Vongola is in an uproar, Giotto has not made his selection of guardians, and the rings are sealed now, that means that the Vongola is without its greatest weapon."

Iemitsu suddenly understood the necessity of the location of his son, and he didn't like it a bit. "They are pressing for a backup, isn't?" He asked his boss and the old man nodded gravely. "The Decimo is young, but I'm old, meaning we are both vulnerable, and now with the sky battle they are asking for a second candidate in case…"

"In the case that Giotto and Xanxus kill each other?" Iemitsu glared at his hands. "He is in Spain, he left a month before we revealed that he was alive, after that, as you know, we sent some of our people in need of protection to the other four houses, two of them children, I also sent a second decoy to the house in Spain at the same time that Tsuna in the form of one of our lesser projects. The spy drones…"

"The ones who were a failure?" He nodded and grimaced at the reminder of the expensive lumps of metal. "The people in Spain were only notified that they should guard their charges and notify if any mayor change occurred, also they were secured by means of the omerta."

He saw the mind of his boss process his words and plans, the sharp mind used to plan and plot all the time. "I don't like your plan Iemitsu; it's too risky, too many things left to chance… But right now we must focus on controlling our allies and making through this chaos you and Giotto have made."

"Yes boss."

* * *

_Admiration._

It was the first thing Giotto recalled feeling towards his brother. He could feel the flame merrily dancing inside the other, its warmth and wildness, all of it woke up inside him a strange feeling of nostalgia that bloomed into acceptance of the violent teenager.

His elder brothers were to him more like fathers or perhaps uncles, given the age gap. But the new, grouchy teenager was to him a real opportunity to have a big brother. So, the admiration rapidly became fraternal love, when he accepted that the cold, irritable teenager was indeed his brother, especially when he received hints of acceptance from the other

_Fear. _Was the feeling that now evoked those burgundy eyes. Xanxus was angry, no; angry was a too mild word. He was beyond the point of pure, concentrated fury. All of it directed at him, and only him.

"The Candidate for the tenth boss of the Vongola Giotto Leoni has challenged Xanxus Leoni for the possession of the sky ring and the right for the succession."

Giotto swallowed and tried not to move even one facial muscle, he resisted the urge to flinch, he resisted the urge to flee, but not even Reborn would be able to make him look directly at those accusing eyes.

"We, the Cervello, will be the judges of this challenge."

He had never trusted the Cervello; there was a deep, ingrained dislike for the organization that had been inside from the very first time he had looked at one of the pink haired, masked women.

"The rules are as follows: the one who can manages to take the other half of the ring wins, both contestants must remain inside the designated area, leaving the area or receiving outside help are means of automatic loss. Otherwise the method of retrieving the rings are without limits."

He and Iemitsu had planned carefully for this day, they had chose for only the guardians and the boss to watch the battle, no outsiders, except for G and Squalo, both as silent seconds in command to each contestant.

"Please start at the bell toll!"

He felt, more than heard the safety of guns being unlocked. He felt the sweat in his neck, cold and uncomfortable and breathed deeply, steeling himself for the fight; he had to make this as real as he could.

The bell tolled and a second latter he felt something collide painfully against his head, he turned it to avoid his neck from being snapped, but the force of the punch sent him to the ground, he looked in shock at this brother who was looking at him in a dispassionate, cold fury. "What? Didn't you want a fight? The Varia only fights to the death scum!" The reply was short and in a low dangerous tone, followed by a merciless attack, flames and body parts slammed into him and Giotto suddenly found himself fighting to save his life, there was no mercy in Xanxus fight style, every blow was directed to kill or permanently maim.

This, was not in the plan.

A hand grabbed his hair and left him in an awkward position, he could not move without exposing his chest or neck and that wouldn't be good. "I'm going to enjoy this, piece of trash"

The sound of the gun going off almost made his eardrums pop, and it left a bleeding gash in his leg, but Xanxus had let him go long enough to dodge the flame. Xanxus, his brother, was really, really trying to kill him, he realized; not injure and not defeat, he wanted him dead.

Giotto let his flame grow and felt his hands being enveloped in bright concentrated flame; he finally looked at his brother's eyes, and found there a predator reading for the kill. "I must thank you trash, for giving me the chance to wipe out all the filth out of the Vongola." Xanxus launched his attack one after the other, merciless, the flame of rage was a destructive force he had never faced before. "The family don't need weak imbeciles like you"

He launched himself at his brother at his maximum speed and saw his brother's eyes widen, he punched the other hard in the stomach, making him double in pain and falter, he forced his arms to keep punching the other, trying his hardest to stop the other, he had to gain some time to… to do something to make Xanxus see his plan… something!

Xanxus Pointed his guns and shot "Scoppio de ira!" the blond barely escaped the barrage of flames, it was incredible the ferocity of his brother's flames.

"The pain of being hit by a gun was greater than a bare fist, and it tore a chocked scream from him, he grabbed both guns with his hands and pushed with his flame, making them both crash in the hard soil. "Stop it! I don't want for any of us to die!" He whispered at his brother and received a disgusted sneer for it. "Oh? And what did you think would happen? That I would just bare my throat like kicked mutt and bow to you?" Snarled Xanxus and Giotto clenched his hands and pushed against the bigger body with his flame, immobilizing the other.

"No you…! I want you to win!" Xanxus stared at him in a shocked dumbfound way, which lasted a mere second and was replaced by a dangerous, angry smile. Giotto could feel the flame inside his brother increase, and become a bigger beast, a bloodthirsty beast. "You, want me to win?" Said Xanxus in a soft voice that made the hair in his neck stand. "bocciolo de fiamma" The attack hurt, and left Giotto singed and nursing burns all over his forearms.

"I will win" Xanxus was completely mad, his own sky flame being overpowered by the anger-driven one. He attacked him with a well-placed round kick "and then I will wipe from the face of the earth every piece of trash that has dared to defy me." A well placed punch in his liver made him clench his eyes and a cruel hand grabbed his chin, making him face the still furious gaze.

"You." A blow to his chest that left him gasping. "The old man." A knee in his stomach. "Your shitty friends." A series of punches in his ribs. "And of course the little missing idiot, I can't have anyone claiming what it's mine."

Xanxus Sneered at him and pointed his gun, preparing his last attack. Giotto snapped. Latter, he could honestly say that he could not remember what really happened. He had been in the process of being mauled and then he found himself above his brother, who was grinning at him with a bloodied nose and a closed eye. "Who's the pacifist now?"

After that it became a blur of flame and punches and all out fury and years of frustration coming out. Both were heavily injured but neither looked inclined to back down, he had to do something, he wanted this to stop.

'stop'

Xanxus was pointing his guns at him, both of them, the flames being concentrated for a final attack. "colpo d'adddio!" Giotto launched himself directly into the path of the attack.

'stop this'

He could see the brilliance of the flames and the heat behind them, Xanxus would not stop, he realized.

So he would stop him.

One minute he had been engulfed in flames and the next he found himself grasping the guns once more, but now there was something different, they were encased in ice. Ice that was rapidly enveloping his brother, Xanxus let go of his right gun but the left hand was already trapped, Giotto tried to let go, but whatever was doing this inside him, refused to stop until he finished the work.

The half sky ring of Xanxus slipped off his finger as if by its own will "N-no STOOOP!" Giotto screamed and watched as Xanxus stared at him in surprise, and then the ice enveloped him whole, and his hands finally let go.

"The winner of the sky ring is Giotto Leoni." Said the Cervello, but Giotto ignored them, he gaped at the ice, it was cold, very cold and hard, he started punching it with his hands and let his flame at it in desperation, but it proved futile because the ice glinted back at him in a mocking way.

"Xanxus!" Desperate now he started to punch harder, ignoring the blood in the places where the ice had cut his gauntlets. "Giotto! Stop it! it won't melt!"

Giotto looked back at his father; Iemitsu and he were running towards them, both were pale faced and were looking at him in a strange way. "What do you mean?" How long could he remain alive in ice? Could he breathe?

"W-what, what's this?" He tried to continue punching the ice but Iemitsu grabbed him in an embrace to stop his arms.

"Tenth we must ask another question of you, as you're now he official holder of the Sky ring we must demand the acceptance of the new Capro Espiatorio, the bond is getting thinner and we must finish the process." Said the woman in a monotone voice; as if his brother wasn't being slowly suffocated in ice, as if his three years of plans had not became dust.

"NO! There won't be any more! I have been trying to destroy that accursed tradition! I WON'T MAKE MORE SACRIFICES!"

The sky ring came alive and the two halves reunited themselves, and Giotto screamed when a flame from it burned the center of his palm, badly. The Cervello was looking at him in horror and so were his father and his guardians. But he was too much in pain and panic to worry about that.

"Let me go Iemitsu!" A blow to his cheek made him react and look at the pale face of his father. "He is not death, nor dying, Giotto. Calm down, that ice can be melted only by the seven flames of the Vongola rings."

Giotto went limp in Iemitsu's hold, he stared at his father and then at the image of his brother encased in ice, he could hear now the enraged yells of Squalo and a frantic G trying to stop the swordsman from joining the fray.

"So be it." Said the Cervello representative. Everybody looked at her, in her hands was a bronze bell, the kind you put on a sheep or a small lamb, and it was cracked in two. "The tenth has severed the bond with the shield."

Giotto stared at her in mounting anger, his mother was dead, how much more severed it could be that bond? "Please, wait a moment Cervello." Pleaded his father. "A new bond has not been established, how can it be broken already?"

"The eight one established the half bond." The second woman pulled out a yellowed parchment, in it were eight names, all written in a strange brown tint, at the middle was a ninth name but the tint was not brown but a dark red, as if…

"As established, we cannot contact the next boss until he or she has been decided. The eight Capro Espiatorio, the one called Alessandra Edmonda passed the power to one Tsunayoshi Sawada two and a half years ago."

The silence was deafening, the arms supporting Giotto suddenly let him fall to the floor, he heard even Squalo stop his screaming and he let his confused mind try to absorb the words. But his mind refused to accept the ridiculous proposition. It was stupid, improbable, impossible.

"No…" It was Timoteo who finally talked. The man was standing very stiff as if all his concentration were on remaining in his feet. "That night in the infirmary, they were side by side…" He mumbled and his already pale skin became a sickly gray. "No." He repeated.

"The name appeared on the contract; as such, it cannot be anything but real. As you know Vongola Nono; it is the Vongola boss sole right to accept or deny the candidate."

"Wait, we didn't know of this! Giotto didn't know he was making that choice!" It was now Iemitsu the one talking. But Giotto was staring at the parchment in the woman's hand and the red line in the penmanship of his mother and the two words in it: Tsunayoshi Sawada.

He closed his eyes and felt the telltale pain in his skull when it connected to the floor.

* * *

TBC


	5. Awakenings

**Chapter 5. Awakenings**

Hisashi Nanako was a twenty four years old nurse in the central hospital of Nanimori; coming from a medium class family, with no record of law infringement and an average school history. She was in all forms and manners an average, normal, young woman in the best age. And also, indebted to the yakuza for more than she could gain in twenty years.

Foolishly, she had thought that being a nurse would give her a way to find a rich doctor to marry or at least to live off, or even a rich patient. But she found herself with the harsh reality that doctors were not as rich as in tv, and that many were little interested in long term relationships with coworkers. As for the patients, she realized that that kind of love usually only happened in soaps and movies.

Then, there was the hospital administrator. A man in his mid-forties, married and with as many debts as she. They had met in a new year party and under the influence of alcohol they had shared sob stories and money worries. It was him whom three months latter approached the woman with a solution.

The Non-Hibari kid.

The child had a trust fund managed by the hospital, a trust fund that had become fatter and fatter, in one side, by the mysterious benefactor, and second by the small donations made from the staff

After more than two years it had become a very nice sum, enough, he told her, for relieve a good part of both their debts, but not so much to raise a scandal. And the administrator had schemed an even better deal, he had 'invested' in a life insurance for the kid, forging the contract to be made five years previous, and leaving as sole beneficiary the child's guardian, in this case, the hospital, it was made for a mild sum; so that it would be easy to be sweep under the rug.

At first she had been hesitant, but then she remembered the leers of the yakuza who threatened her, and the very real promise of making her pay in any form she could. And the child had been in a coma for so long, it would be very doubtful for him to wake up. It would be like putting a suffering animal out of its misery.

They had a plan, the child would 'suddenly wake up' and in his disorientation would accidentally slip out the bed, hitting his head fatally. It had happened before after all: A coma patient would suddenly wake up, and panic, especially if connected to various lines and machines, the combination of panic and sometimes fear making them try to escape. After all, children were fragile, and the distance from the highest setting of the automatic bed to the hard floor would be just enough to cause enough damage.

The bed would be set to the highest position and left beside the window, with it wide open 'for the child to get sun and fresh air' Then Konnue-san, the administrator, would do the deed, after they confirmed the death, the distressed nurse would scream and alert the staff of the accident.

They would have to wait a long time to get the cash, but without a dead body they would be unable to get the insurance money. It all came to patience and luck.

It would be alright. Nothing could go wrong, really.

* * *

The darkness seemed less cold lately, the hard thing in his chest was gone and he felt less sleepy lately. The purple flame was starting to come to visit more, and now, he could hear complete sentences. It was a man, or a teenager. He had a slow smooth voice, and sometimes he sounded very scary, like some of the members of the Vongola who were especially violent. But other times he spoke with a soft, calming voice that made him feel secure and warm.

Tsuna realized that a lot of time had passed ever since he came to be inside the dark place. And at the same time, he could not grasp the concept of time and place. Lately, however he felt the need to leave the cold place, he was needed somewhere else. Then he heard a whisper, in a voice he had forgotten.

"It's time…."

Tsuna started when suddenly, behind him, appeared the familiar eight shapes holding a candle each, he suddenly noted that there was something in his shoulders and on his head, his hands were bound together by a strange white band, no, it was hundreds of small threads joining together in his wrists; they were small and delicate almost like spider webs threads, he looked closely and noticed that they weren't threads at all they were small rays of white light and they pulsed as if alive. In his hand he held an unlit, whole candle, the tried to raise the candle to take a better look at it and then he caught a glimpse of the pelt in his back, where it was once completely white and pristine it was now half soaked in a metallic scented liquid, a dark red liquid. It looked scorched in some places but it was still whole. But now it seemed heavier than before.

"It's time Tsunayoshi, raise your candle to wait for the decision." He didn't understand, but he recognized the voice talking to him, it was a woman that he loved and trusted. His Aunt.

"Decimo we must ask another question of you, as you're now he official holder of the Sky ring we must demand the acceptance of the new Capro Espiatorio, the bond is getting thinner and we must finish the process." Said the voice of a woman in a monotone voice. And Tsuna frowned at it. Who was this?

"No" Came a slow whisper and Tsuna felt his own flame dance in joy and surprised delight when a very familiar flame appeared before him, but at the same time he grew concerned at the state of the flame; it looked smaller and angry, and not as clear as he remembered.

"NO! There won't be any more! I have been trying to destroy that accursed tradition! I WON'T MAKE MORE SACRIFICES!"

He flinched back when the flame suddenly grew and the candle in his hands crumbled into ash, almost half of the threads in his wrists snapped apart under the heath of the flame, the woman behind him hugged and protected him from most of the flame, but he could still feel the angry flames lashing at them, trying to erase his very existence.

"So be it." Said the monotone voice, and the flame that rejected him disappeared. "The Decimo had severed the bond with the shield." The Decimo? Tenth? He knew that title… in the back of his mind he knew the flame and the name. A burning feeling in his wrist made him look down, the band was thinner now.

"Don't despair … there is still a chance." Whispered the woman holding him, she repaired a few of the severed rays in his wrist and clasped his hands "Wake up Tsuna"

* * *

Hibari was having a terrible day: first, the science club had dared to demand more money, after destroying half of their instruments by their own negligence, and the student council tried to make him lower his own budget to meet the inane request. Then, a new sensei had presumed to make him attend regular classes in the midst of a crowd. He had a short, succinct and illustrative _talk_ with the presumptuous herbivore.

In the lunch period, the kendo and judo club members had formed a junction to try and overthrow his disciplinary committee, it was almost amusing, until they incapacitated several of his underlings, and that meant more work for Hibari… he was not amused.

While it had been absolutely enjoyable to beat the useless herbivores into a bloody mess, a cowardly herbivore had hurt him with a throwing knife in the back, it had been a lucky and inexperienced throw, but it had enraged him beyond words.

Now he had to return to the hospital to be assisted by the healer, while the cut was no too deep, it surely would need stitches, he couldn't reach his back and he didn't trust anyone with the task, not even Kusakabe.

He went into the hospital into a foul mood and up the stairs to avoid the crowds making use of the remaining visiting hours. He reached for the handle to his room and opened the door, he then saw something that made his lust for violence to escalate. A bald, overweight man had the little harmless animal by the neck and was in the process of smashing its fragile skull against the floor, beside him was a staring nurse whom, while pale and nervous wasn't stopping the vile act.

It was cowardly, hideous, and it went against every code of honor and discipline he could conceive, and he would extract punishment against these two.

"H-hi…Hib…. AGHH!" A tonfa was slammed against the nose of the man, and Hibari recognized him as the lowly herbivore in charge of finances. "Don't you dare to speak my name you foul animal." He growled and took out his phone, calling for his clean-up team, at the same time a Doctor entered the room in a rush, no doubt attracted by all the screaming. "Hibari-sama what is the meaning of this!"

Hibari wasn't used to give explanations, but if the doctor dared to involve the police then his prey could escape him. "These two scavengers were trying to kill the little one." He said while looking directly at the doctor's eyes, daring him to call him a liar or contest his word. To his surprise the man looked in betrayal at the nurse and the man.

"I will call the police, Hibari-sama, please don't kill him inside the hospital." He finally said, and Hibari turned around to face his prey and frowned at it. Two well-placed blows left it gasping and trembling in the floor, and Hibari felt even more disgusted at the display, he raised his arm, ready to smash the beefy hand in pieces when the woman screamed.

"STOP! STOP!" She was by the open window, seated in the brim and had something in her lap, held tightly against her chest "STOP IT OR I WILL JUMP!"

Hibari paused and let the man drop to the floor; the woman was trembling and grasping the small boy in her arms, her hard nails obviously bruising the skin of the thin chest. Hibari remembered the already gruesome scar in the chest, he didn't need more. "GET OUT! GET OUT! Or I will jump!"

"Let him go." He could not believe the daring of this woman, first she assisted the murder of a defenseless child, then she dared to order him around. Unforgivable.

"I'm not bluffing! STEP BACK!" She screamed and then something outlandish happened; the boy's forehead spontaneously burst into flames, the woman, startled, let go of both the window's edge and the child and Hibari reached out for the body before he fell, the woman was hanging at the edge screaming in fear, but even if she dropped there was a balcony two meters under, she would survive, he decided.

Hibari stared in fascination at the orange flame, he extended one hand and felt only warmth and a small tingling from the fire. The concept of a non-harming fire was so ludicrous to him that he felt completely intrigued. Then, the eyes opened and looked directly at him, two pair of burning ambers, confused and disoriented, and looking at something in his chest as if trying to delve into the very core of his being.

"…purple… c-cloud…" He whispered in a scratchy, unused voice before the eyes became a more tame caramel and looked at his face in wonder, the small animal had the gall to actually smile at him before falling asleep impudently in his arms.

"Mm… interesting..."

* * *

Giotto was dreaming. He was in a familiar office; the one belonging to the Vongola boss, but it was slightly different, everything looked new, and at the same time…simpler. There were none of the expensive tapestries or the invaluable paintings.

'How many times must I say this Cervello? There is no way that I could agree to this!' Said a voice to his right and Giotto gaped at a mirror image of himself, and yet it was not, this Giotto was older, and wearing outdated clothes and a flowing cape, and his eyes were different too; they were a clear amber and currently sparkling in anger at the woman before him.

The Cervello looked the same, except perhaps for the flowing capes. 'Giotto-sama. After you sealed the Vongola rings the Tri-Ni-Set balance was broken! The curse is one of the consequences of this action.' Said the woman, and the dream-Giotto looked troubled at this. 'I won't release the Vongola rings, we are not searching for total domination of the mafia, we don't need so much power!'

Primo, he thought, this was the first boss of the Vongola, and he was arguing with a Cervello. Quite a strange dream to have… he thought and walked closer to the pair to listen better. 'Giotto-sama, I understand your point of view, but the Vongola accepted the burden of a third of the tri-ni-set, we must maintain the order! When you cut the Vongola's ring power in half you let a void! This empty space must be filled! This curse that has fallen over your family is filling this void!' He had never seen a Cervello lose her composure, but this one was clearly at her wit's end.

'I won't let Elena sacrifice herself for us!'

'You don't have to do anything Giotto, I have already accepted.' Said a soft voice, an elegant and young woman arrived the scene. She was smiling sadly at the shocked Primo. ' I'm ashamed to admit it, but I eavesdropped your last meeting, and I offered myself to the Cervello afterwards… Primo, I have already done half the bond; we only need your consent now.' She was smiling resolutely at the dream-Giotto and then took a step closer to the Don 'we need the power of the Vongola ring to bind this curse.'

Giotto could almost feel the despair coming from the first boss as well as the reluctance; he was staring in impotence at the two women. 'And if I refuse to do this?'

Elena; the fiancée of the first mist guardian, smiled at him, her gaze firm and defiant. 'Then I will protect the Vongola until my body gives into the curse.'

Primo frowned deeply and finally nodded with a defeated sigh, then he took her left hand with his ringed one and kissed the flawless hand of the woman. 'So be it, I accept this bond.'

Then, the dream froze and the first boss looked at him, he was crying Giotto noticed, but his eyes were clearly on him. "You must remember, you and I are the same. You are running out of time"

* * *

"KEEP ROWING YOU MORON!" Growled Gokudera in his best imitation of Mr. Reborn, which by now was pretty convincing. He glared at the green haired Lampo, the same idiot that had made his beloved first piano blow up in a rain of splinters when Gokudera was five.

"Yare, yare, I'm not fit for such mundane task, thank you, you may row instead of me." Sulked the older boy and Gokudera pointed his gun and took out his waterproof dynamite. "fine…I'm rowing I'm rowing."

"That's the spirit Lampo! EXTREME rowing contest!" The bomber groaned at the loud voice of the black haired menace, what kind of retarded parents named his child Knuckles anyway? Although, the name was nagging something in the back of his mind…

"WAAAAAAAAAAA Lambo-sama wants candy! Grape candy! NOOOOWWW!"

"Shut up you stupid cow, don't you see we are in the middle of the ocean?" The child continued wailing of course and Gokudera felt like doing the same, these three idiots, unharmed, and confined, had caused the ship to sink! It had looked like a bad rendition of the Titanic, sans the music. There had been wailing, destruction and chaos, and water, lots and lots of it.

"YES! I WILL EXTREMELY WIN!"

"I'm tired, I refuse to be worked like a lowly slave!"

They had claimed a boat, and Gokudera had barely saved half of their resources before the enraged and confused crew could kill them. They were now in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean, and they were screwed! Gokudera prized himself at his intelligence, but he wasn't a marine damn it!

Calm down. He admonished himself, he was the only who could guide these three idiots. They were somewhere at the north of Taiwan, they should do about 5 days to the port of Kashima, but how reach the same speed of a ship?

"THIS IS AN EXTREEEME PADDLING CHALLENGE!"

"Yare, yare… this is so boring, and my skin is not made for this harsh sun."

"Lambo-Sama wants to pee!"

One way or another I will reach you Tsuna-sama! Vowed Gokudera.

* * *

When he had lost the ability to be the external advisor who kept the family in balance and safe from this kind of screw ups? Iemitsu wondered. He was seated in the ninth's conference room, around him were the guardians and Squalo as the provisional Varia representative. G was seated behind the Ninth's chair, in representation of Giotto.

"Ninth, please, If you would clarify this bond?" Said the sun guardian, and all the attention went to the boss. He looked beyond weary, he looked defeated.

"As you know, the shield is a person who controls a vast amount of power, as such, that power must be tested and approved by two people: the one who nominates it, which is the previous curse holder, and the new boss who enters in a contract with the new shield. He must give a small part of his core flame to completely liberate the power of the shield."

"And before? How does the shield can maintain itself?" Asked the storm guardian, the ninth smiled bitterly. "Until it is accepted, the curse uses the missing power from the holder of the curse."

"Young Tsunayoshi's flame?"

"Exactly, but I cannot conceive someone enduring this long in such conditions . I think the mystery of the Arcobaleno is now clear, Tsunayoshi must have included the Arcobaleno into the shield, quite a feat in itself."

"I told you he was strong." Said Reborn, he sounded morose, and in Reborn that was a scary thing.

"Well, then we must find him! What are we waiting for?" Said the lighting guardian, and Iemitsu glared at him. "You don't understand the bind that we are in, do you?"

"What?"

"The tenth is injured, the second candidate is frozen, and cannot be freed until the rings accept the guardians. And the third candidate is the shield!" Iemitsu chuckled. "Don't you see? If Tsuna dies then Giotto cannot enter into another contract, and if the curse comes back in full strength, the days of the Vongola are counted. And with the rings sealed the curse will be even stronger."

"So, to sum it up we are fucked." Said the lighting guardian, silencing the room.

"Tsuna is alive, The Cervello said that as long as the… tint was fresh he would be still alive." Said G pointing at the center of the table, where the parchment laid. The parchment of the contract was a mysterious thing; for being so old, it certainly looked new, and it had a strong stench of smoke and blood.

"We still have a chance Boss, however small it is, the Cervello said we have some months after the rejection for the bond to be completely discarded, isn't?" Said Reborn approaching the table. The ninth was staring at the parchment and nodded warily.

"Yes, the Cervello said that if Tsuna agrees by his own will we can reestablish the bond before it vanishes… we don't have other choice but to trust in his strength."

"Or the Vongola will fall." Supplied the ninth's cloud guardian with a displeased frown. "I dislike this plan."

"It's the only one we have." Said Reborn, he looked at his boss and took out some papers. "These are the candidates for the guardians, I believe that Giotto will accept them all but the mist. We have already secured the storm and the cloud." Reborn was amused at this, the most unpredictable ones were the easiest to round up.

"Alaude said yes?" Exclaimed G in wonder and Reborn just smirked at him, as if daring him to doubt his abilities. "Now, we have a problem, the heir of the Bovino is missing, he went with his uncle to do some kind of negotiations with the Gesso family in Singapore, some kind of weapons trade, then, he suddenly appeared in the wanted alive list. Also the candidate for the sun guardian was last seen in the same area, while participating into an event of Wakeboarding in Singapore"

"Wake what?" Said G in confusion, Reborn just smiled in amusement. "It some kind of extreme sport, apparently the contestant 'Knuckles' lost by default when he failed to show up at the finals."

G felt faint, there was a possibility that the two idiots were lost, together, in the middle of Singapore? "They are doomed." He exclaimed in a factual tone. There was no way for the two of them to survive.

"Have a little more faith in your fellow guardians young storm." Admonished Coyote, he took out a report and let it gently in the table. "We have rumors of a large disturbance in one of the docks of Jurong Port, and one of our informants in the docks reported that the pursuers where clearly screaming in Italian and looking for some kids, they left empty handed, we are now investigating it in full."

The ninth looked a little more hopeful now, he regained some color and smiled in gratitude at his men. "Very well, Iemitsu, you are in charge of the search of young Tsunayoshi. Reborn, just concentrate in Giotto and the guardians, while we maintain the Vongola working and prepare for the worst."

"Yes, boss."

* * *

Giotto woke up with a start, his head hurting. That was… that dream…

"Hey! Good morning sleeping beauty. You look like shit." Said the voice of Cozart and Giotto growled through the swelling of his tongue.

"W-what…?"

"Everybody is in going crazy, your father is having some trouble with the famiglias, someone who calls itself 'The Taipan' went into a killing spree, using a new lethal poison and the families are getting nervous. The CEDEF is looking for Tsuna, the Varia are stopping leaks. And Reborn and G are rounding up your guardians, it looks like they are more scattered that they thought; especially Knuckles, I think Reborn is just itching to grab him and tie him in place."

Giotto smiled faintly at the memory of the enthusiastic teenager, at twelve he had suddenly, after a dare from G, vowed to become the champion in every extreme sport and proceeded into a worldwide search for the craziest, most dangerous sport he could find.

"Why must you try to shoulder all by yourself Giotto?" Said Cozart and the blond stared at him, the redhead looked sad, not angry but merely sad. "You have friends, and a family to lean on, stop trying to fight by yourself idiot." Then Cozart hugged him gently, minding his broken ribs, like the way his father used to hug him, like someone worth of being cherished. He found himself completely surprised at the gesture.

"We are here… you're not alone"

He grabbed the unfailing back of his friend and clung to him, he had been weak, he had been selfish and foolish, and in result he was now shattered, destroyed beyond fix…

And he vowed to himself to build a formidable sky from the remains of his former self.

* * *

"Don't call me for such trivial matters, I have no interest in traveling to search for those imbeciles." Said the bored voice of Alaude before hanging up and G screamed in frustration at the voice, then grabbed the table when a wave of dizziness almost took away his vision, he needed to sleep he knew, but there was just so much to do.

G looked at the mountain of information in his desk, in fact, his desk had become a mere hint of wood under mountains of reports and information. A photo peeked in between the reports from all the ships, and the reports on homeless children matching Tsuna's profile. It was a photo of him, Giotto, Tsuna and Hayato. G felt bitter at his own incompetence, he had lost the two of them, they had slipped from his fingers like clumsy birds jumping into the void.

He felt tired, all of this was too much, and he had nothing, no one, to lean on. And frankly he couldn't see and end of all of this…

"Or maybe I just need some sleep." He chuckled, and now he was speaking alone! He could almost see himself sharing a room with that lunatic of Deamon in a nice padded room. A knock in the door startled him and he opened the door to a bubbly greeting.

"Hello G-san!" Said a bright voice and G opened wide eyes and stared at the very blond, very cheery visage of Dino Chiavallone in the door. "Reborn called me to help. And I bring good news! The Chiavallone has a pair of people in the Jurong port, to keep an eye on the trade. One of them took this photo. Reborn said to show you this." G snatched the photo, the focus was a pair of men being detained by the security of the docks but in the right he could see a departing ship, a bright 27 number painted in cheery orange, and hanging like parasites where two very familiar backs, he could recognize that green hair anywhere!

He frowned at the ship and went to check the huge list of ships that had been in the port that day, he had seen that number somewhere… it was a small ship so that narrowed things considerably, his hands flew in the keyboard, one picture after another and then he found the matching image he read avidly the information and then he looked at Dino in wonder.

"Japan! They are going to freaking Japan!" What were they thinking? He looked over at Dino, he was speaking to someone by the phone and looked a little bit scared. Reborn, G thought, he is talking to Reborn.

"Ah, yes… ciao!" The blond hung up and looked at him with a grimace. "Reborn said to inform you, that your other cousin, Bianchi, has joined the gathering. She is going to finish some work in France then she will leave to Japan in about two weeks to contact your friend… uhm Asari?" Perhaps it was a good thing that Hayato was somewhere in Italy searching for Tsuna then, though G, less a chance for the two siblings to meet. Now, if only Hayato could stop being his stubborn self and return to the main house…

* * *

Deamon watched in amusement at the frozen Xanxus, his place as a guardian was almost secure with this, if Giotto wished to wake up his 'brother' then he would need his help, there was no way that the ring would accept other but him in this time.

"Poor foolish Giotto, believing he can stop the inevitable." He said in a whisper to Xanxus like confiding in a friend. "You performed your part impeccably, now it's just question of finding little Tsunayoshi and binding him. But first I have to take care of that annoying illusionist… to think he can interfere, so foolish…" His eyes glinted at the face of pain and surprise that Xanxus was frozen in and he smiled brightly at him. He just needed to keep the pineapple menace under control…"My lovely Elena's legacy shall live forever, just as planned. Nufufufu."

"WHO IS THERE?"

Squalo barged into the room but found it empty, he growled lowly in his throat and looked at the piece of ice in the middle of the room. He searched the room and found it empty and clean of traps.

"If that bastard of Mammon is playing tricks again …" He was fed up with those imbeciles, they were a unruly crazy bunch that made him want to eviscerate each one of them at least twice a day, if only Xan… He cut his train of thought and looked once more at the piece of ice, he frowned heavily and crossed his arms "Hang in there boss… we will get you out."

* * *

Tick-tack

He could finally feel, he was at last out of that horrible place, but, where he was?

Tick-tack

The air smelled funny, like medicine and tea, green tea…weird.

Tick-tack

His eyelids felt heavy, and he couldn't even open his mouth or move his head.

Tick-tack

He ached, his flesh, his bones, all was a mass of ache and sparks of pain, he felt heavy, and so tired, but he wanted to open his eyes, he concentrated on open the stubborn lids, and then blinked at the bright light in the room.

Tick-tack

That sound… a clock there was a clock nearby and now he could hear another being breathing close, a deep rhythmic noise that seemed strangely familiar, he turned his head around and winced when the small movement made him sick, there was something very wrong with him.

Tick-tack

He opened once more his eyes and stared at the boy at his side, he was sleeping in the chair at his bedside and Tsuna suddenly grasped the memory of being in someone's lap and feeling extremely happy at meeting him at last. What had he been thinking?

Tick-tack

Then, he remembered the reason for his joy and his wide eyes stared at the chest of the boy, he could see a flame, a purple flame dancing inside… he could see flames? Then he blinked, the dark-haired boy was surrounded by a white halo and from the middle of his chest the light stretched forming a single ray of light, like the web-like strings from his dream… it was connecting his flame with his own he realized, and Tsuna tried to poke it but his hand went through it. Then he blinked and it disappeared. Just great…! Now he was hallucinating…

Tick-tack

Perhaps that place hadn't been a dream? He remembered the cold place and felt nauseous once more. How long? How long had he been in that horrible place. Where he was? Who was this person at his side?

Tick

The clock stopped and Tsuna saw the frozen arm forever stuck in the number ten, then he returned his eyes to the boy and found himself looking into fierce, dangerous eyes.

"You're awake." Said the other teenager, he looked to be about Giotto's age, fifteen if he had to guess... And the voice seemed achingly familiar, yet foreign, like remembering a melody only heard in dreams.

"W-who…?" Ouch! His throat hurt! A lot! Was he that hurt in the battle? The boy chastised him with a look and Tsuna froze on the spot, then he felt something cold and wet in his lips, ice, the boy was giving him shaved ice.

"The doctor is coming later to check on you." Said the teenager, with a cold voice, he had a violent and menacing aura, the atmosphere of someone who fought constantly and reveled in it, he felt like his family and Tsuna managed to muster the strength to reach a hand to grab the bigger one, he felt instantly the flame under the skin and smiled at the contact, the other boy gave him a scorching scowl that reminded him of Xanxus in his bad days, and G when fighting with Gokudera, and the hard faces of men than gave him candy in secret under the table at breakfast. This was a very dangerous, very violent person. And the flame only closed the deal for him. This was familiar in an unfamiliar place.

"Why are you smiling and crying?" Asked the holder of the purple flame, seemingly perplexed at the behavior of the strange idiot clinging to him, but Tsuna just smiled in relief at the dangerous, fierce aura of the other.

* * *

Gokudera launched himself to the sand and resisted the urge to kiss it. Land! Glorious firm ground at last! He vowed to never leave it again.

Against all likelihoods they had made it, he had not counted with the inexplicable stamina of the black haired idiot, or the stupid Bovino's strange hobby of astronomy of all things! Using the stars as a compass, and stretching his own, meager, knowledge of navigation and direction, they had, somehow, reached the large island.

They were… somewhere in Japan, a sure sign of it were the fishers around them, speaking the language.

"YES! Record time! That was an extreme challenge! We should do it again!"

"Over my death body!" Screamed Gokudera and panted, he had just found his second worst phobia, the sea.

"Yare, yare… so this is Japan…? Mmm? it looks kind of plain to me, I don't see any robots around." Said the Bovino menace, who was carrying a sleeping Lambo in his back. The bomber was only too happy to leave the company of these idiots, if he never saw them again he would consider himself a lucky guy.

"Waaa! I know this place! We are near my home-town! I have to visit my little siblings!" Exclaimed knuckles, already recovered from rowing almost non-stop for five solid days. Was he a freaking monster or something? Just how much strength he had in those freakish arms?

Then Gokudera saw something that made his already troubled mind revert to a feral, enraged, primitive state, the other guy was calmly taking out of his pocked a phone, and seemingly waterproof, serviceable, functioning freaking phone!

"Y-y…y-ou… had a phone, all-this-fucking-time?"

"Uh? This?" answered knuckles while looking in surprise at his own hand. "oh Yes! I just extremely forgot! The guys in the store told me it has some GPS thingy, cool isn't?"

A terrifying scream of anger was heard around a radio of 5 miles, defying all physics laws. And reviving in the small town the tales of the mysterious fire-spitting monsters from the seas.

* * *

I apologize for any grammatical mistake, please point them out to be fixed, yes?

You can call this a transition. Explanatory chapter. Hope it wasn't too boring. See you soon.


	6. Moving

**The lost lamb**

**Chapter 6: Moving**

I received a warning from Nazi-land, to stop 'interacting' (answering reviews) and making AN, or risk this being deleted... So I'm sorry for not answering Reviews to those who don't have an account, but I'm very grateful for all of them, since they make me motivated to finish this story in spite of all the things currently happening. Thank you. Thank you.

To the others I'm answering you via PM, so thank you.

******Chapter 6: Moving**

Gokudera frowned at the small building; the small coast hospital was almost in a cliff, surrounded at the sides by small farms and tiny shops. While the area behind was a small rocky beach and in the front there was only the road. He looked once more at the coordinates in the phone. After his last fight with the idiots he found out that the black haired one had left his phone behind. Never one to reject a free advantage, he took it with glee. After all, he had limited resources and time.

The small GPS didn't lie; this general area was the place where the last signal had originated from. He should start his search in the hospital. Although all this setup made him anxious. Nothing added up, this was either the master plan of the CEDEF or a colossal screw up.

He squared his shoulders and waited for the night to completely fall over the small building. "Time to work…"

* * *

Tsuna was incredibly embarrassed; he had clung to that guy like a leech! Like a whimpering child! He could almost hear the mocking tone of Reborn in the back of his head. Ugh! He was such a Dame-Tsuna indeed. When the doctor had approached him he had freaked out. He had taken one look at the white cloak and just lost it, and when the doctor had asked about his name and family he completely went into panic mode. All the warnings and training from his family flooding his mind. All the stories from previously captured members, and the warnings from G.

'_Never say your name'_

_'Never say your family name. Protect the famiglia.'_

_'Lie, lie, lie, and keep at it, and when than fails keep silent, whatever it takes."_

_'They won't have mercy on you, no matter what they say, so keep it shut.'_

_'Just hang in there and wait for us!'_

_'Whatever you do, just don't give in, never.'_

He had just repeated a plethora of don't know, don't remember, where I am? Before the white cloak left with hasty Cloud-san left as well, surely disgusted at his behavior…Now that he was calmer, he went over the short sentences he had caught from the doctor's interrogation.

_'… it's been two years since they brought you here…'_

_'we put your information in the database…'_

_'…couldn't find your family, don't you remember what….'_

"No… it can't be" He whispered to himself, unwilling to accept what those sentences implied. He had a massive headache and his throat felt on fire, he looked around the room and saw a glass with water on a small table, just a meter away from his bed. It was one meter, perhaps a little bit more? He looked at his stick thin legs and grimaced, they looked so… weak.

He could make it; it wasn't that far. With much determination and fear, he let his legs swing over the edge, shivering at contact with the cold tiles. He stood up, slowly, conscious of his spine lengthening and his muscles protesting the movement, he closed his eyes, letting the world spin for a while and breathed slowly to avoid the nausea and the ringing in his ears.

Finally, he opened his eyes brown eyes and smiled in triumph; he was standing on his feet, on his feet! With a hopeful smile he lifted one foot and gave a step and felt the knee give out immediately; his legs muscles failing to support his weight. He crashed into the floor, his head hitting the icy tiles. Not even one step, not one!

He let his arms stretch and blindly tried to find some support. He was sure he looked pathetic this way… he stared at his skinny arms and tried to lift himself again and failed once more. The boy glowered at the trembling hands, the fingers were thin, too thin; they screamed weakness and sickness.

Weak, trembling hands, useless hands. Who would want someone like this, so pathetic, so weak? This worthless, weak idiot who couldn't even stand up?

_'… we put your information on the database…'_

They had… there was no way that the Vongola or the CEDEF couldn't find his finger prints or data if they wanted, especially if it was in an official, open, data base.

_'…two years, since they brought…'_

He clenched his eyes and pushed once more… if only, if only he could get up…! His arms hurt but he pushed with all his strength and managed to lift himself a few centimeters, only to crash down once more, he screamed in frustration. Why? What had he done? WHY?

Stupid, stupid weak arms!

He pushed with his feet, feeling like a worm that struggled helplessly in the dirt. He should have known better! He was hopeless, always making trouble, getting hurt at the drop of a shoe. No matter how hard he had tried, how hard he worked; he couldn't change what he was.

Useless.

He clenched his eyes to stop the tears; he wouldn't snivel on top of everything! He wouldn't! But he couldn't help feeling shattered, he had tried so hard, and still, he had disappointed his family, he was such a failure. No wonder they had got rid of him. He couldn't blame them.

He deserved to be alone.

He let his muscles go lax, what was he fighting for? Why go through all this misery? This was his place, in the floor, away from normal people, here, he couldn't make more damage, be a burden anymore. He was good here…

'You're giving up?' Came a whisper in the back of his head, it sounded kind of familiar, but he didn't care there was to give up? All his work, all his sacrifices were empty ones, at the end he was left alone. His family, his precious family had deemed him useless. What there was to look up to?

_'Kufufufu… I finally found you little fish!'_

He stopped breathing… he froze in waiting, was he hallucinating? _'Mukuro? It's, it's that you?' _He thought tentatively.

'_Hello Tsunayoshi It's nice to hear you again' _Answered the voice, it sounded faint, almost distorted. Where did it come from? '_But…after listening to your thoughts I'm sorry to be saying goodbye'_ the tone was regretful and had just a hint of disgust in it. Enough to make him choke.

_'This is not the Tsunayoshi I'm interested in; I have no use for pathetic victims.' Tsuna_ trembled in confusion and fear, he could almost see a shadow in the corner of his eye, but he didn't dare to turn his head. He didn't dare to hope. _'I-I… I just… Please…'_

He could feel something brushing his cheek, it was a mere hint of warmth, he closed his eyes and saw in the corner of his eye a indigo flame… it looked so very far away… 'I told you that the mafia was a bunch of bad news… I don't need a broken doll in my collection. You're useless as you are now.'

Tsuna whined in protest and put all his strength in his arms, pushing against the pain and tremors. 'I-I'm not useless!' He thought in desperation and continued pressing his trembling arms against the floor, fighting to make it to his knees. _'Prove it.'_ He heard, he managed to extend his arms and pushed his knees against the floor.

_'..I- I'm NOT!'_ His arms gave out under him, leaving him winded and trembling, defeated in the cold floor, clenching his teeth in humiliation, he felt angry, so much it made him tremble with the contained emotion.

_'Kufufufu, that's a nice feeling…"_ The brush of fingers came again, this time in his neck _'Where are you?_' Asked Mukuro and Tsuna gasped at the question. 'you don't know?' Then he almost felt Mukuro disappear in the back of his mind. Ashamed and trembling he found himself unable to contain the horrible bitter feeling inside him.

Alone, they had left him alone… No more of this. No more wishing for something he couldn't have. He didn't deserve. They didn't want him? Fine! With his belief, the bond became weaker, one more fiber falling apart.

"Useless trash…" He said between choked sobs, he stayed on the floor, in his awkward position that was hurting his neck, in the cold floor like a broken puppet, discarded, unwanted. He could feel the cold under his bare arms and the rapid heartbeat in his chest, and the sobs that escaped his tight clenched lips from time to time. He finally closed his eyes in defeat, the cold in his body and his hearth making him dizzy and tired.

He didn't hear the door open, and only reacted when a strong hand grabbed the neck of his pajama and tossed him to the bed not too gently, he recognized the call of the purple flame, it was the dark haired guy! He hid his face in the sheets in shame, and stopped breathing when he felt an awkward and somewhat hesitant hand fall on his head.

The pity and at the same time the strange gentleness in the gesture cut him deeply. Reborn was right; he was just Dame-Tsuna.

* * *

Byakuran stared with amused eyes at the screen; this was just so much fun! The Vongola were panicking over something. And his spies had come up with a priceless piece of information: little Tsunayoshi was missing, and not only that, all the Vongola suddenly considered finding him top priority. Also, Xanxus had disappeared from the face of the earth. This was very intriguing indeed.

But first he had two little bugs to squash. That pair of Bovinos and that other teenager, carried with them evidence against him and he wasn't ready to an all-out war with the Vongola. He started a second video conference, and smiled in amusement at the disfigured and heavily scarred face that appeared in the screen. "My dear Estraneo, I have a proposition for you. I have news about one of your surviving pets… about a certain brown-haired specimen '8-b.' Would you mind doing one more work for me in exchange from this?" The man glared at him but looked intrigued. "Don't call me _that_ Byakuran" He said in irritation. "I'm the Taipan…8-b you said?"

* * *

"Get your ass up, we are going to Japan. HURRY!" Announced G, waving around a bunch of papers, while coming inside the room. "G, you know I can't leave the main house…" Answered Giotto in a bored tone while looking in amusement at his friends. Inside the room were Enma and Cozart, both of them had remained with the Vongola to wait news about Tsuna. "No, you, don't understand. I think those two idiots are in deep trouble and they don't know it!"

"Uhm… we are talking about who?" G, decidedly looked a little too tired mussed Giotto. "Lampo and Knucles, of course! Have you not read my summary?" Growled his right hand man and Giotto frowned at the various stacks of paper strewn all around the room, he spied a bright red folder hidden under six more of the same color, all of them marked with big "Urgent" stickers in them. "I think is one of those…"

G glared at him, really glared. "Okay, here's your summary. You know that Lampo was chosen as the successor by his aunt, You remember Aurelia, don't you? okay, as you know, she rejected her own brother..."

"Yes, I know this G, I helped them in the negotiations, remember?" G glared mightily at him "Agh let me finish!" Giotto half-smiled at the intimidating glare and G continued his tale. "Okay, about three weeks ago Lampo's uncle took him to Singapore, to observe some weapon's transaction with the Gesso family."

"The gesso… it's that…?"

"The same one that Iemitsu has been so paranoid about the last years? Yes, stop interrupting! Now here is the thing: the uncle returns claiming that Lampo is a traitor to the family , he told them that Lampo tried to sell the secret of the ten years bazooka to the Gesso, and that he took his little son Lambo with him as a hostage…"G ended while pacing around the room. "That's… ridiculous." Mumbled Giotto, G nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! That idiot wouldn't do something as tiring as planning a betrayal and a kidnapping!"

"G…" Warned Giotto. "Yes, yes, the point is, I think that it was his uncle the one who tried to sell the bazooka and that Lampo escaped after finding out, or when they tried to kill him. If anything, that dimwit is great at running away…"

"Okay, but what about this going to Japan?" Asked Giotto, his eyes sharpening at the tale. "Oh yes, Knuckles was in the island as well, somehow they ended escaping together, don't ask me how! But we confirmed they boarded an Italian ship going to Japan." Giotto eyed the half empty cup of strong coffee in his friend's hand, very tempted to take it away, it seemed that G had ingested enough already. "Personally I think the idiots mistook it for a ship going to Italy."

The blond teenager almost burst out in laughter at the image, but repressed it at the already maniac look in G eyes. "It isn't funny! I can't understand how you go around collecting these simpletons! They sank the ship Giotto! The rescued crew talked about a ghost of a cow child and some crazy screaming idiot punching a hole in the boat!"

Giotto did laugh now, even though his ribs ached at the motion. "No! Really? I mean… are they alright? Did they rescue them with the crew?" Giotto barely contained his laughter, the image too funny to ignore it. "No, they escaped somehow, the pair of imbeciles! How long you think they can last in the open sea those two, and with a baby?"

Giotto sobered at the thought. "Miraculously enough they did reach Japan and are in hiding in Knuckles house there. Lampo sent me an E-mail an hour ago. I told them to stay put." Growled G, in a somewhat disgruntled tone, as if hoping for the others to be still drifting in the sea. "However, we have to fetch the idiots, before they end up dead! The Gesso family is planning something against them. They were the ones to put his name in the wanted list."

"They are not going to let me out of the house…" Growled Giotto, but his eyes were already deep in concentration, planning a way out of the mansion. "What about me?" Asked Cozart, he was looking at him with a mischievous grin, Enma too looked determined. "We are the same height and build, a pair of contacts and a wig and if you take Enma with you…"

Giotto looked wary still, eyeing his broken leg and ribs. "but…" G grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and growled at him. "Giotto! You're going to ask those idiots to become your guardians! They are going to risk their necks for you. The least you can do is go and ask yourself! You started being this indecisive, insecure idiot ever since you started to listen to these old geezers! And I'm not putting up with this shit anymore! It's simple, we go, extract those idiots before they end up dead and return quickly!"

"But Tsuna…"

"If we can activate the Vongola rings we will buy Tsuna more time isn't? The faster we gather your idiots, the faster we can concentrate on Tsuna!" Giotto smiled back at his enraged friend. And at the amused Shimon brothers. "Thank you, my friends. Now, how do we get past Reborn?"

* * *

Hibari-san was hurt again. Now, it was a very nasty looking burn in his arm. Tsuna watched the other boy as he entered the room with an almost visible aura of annoyance.

It seemed that cloud-san had a name, and it was Hibari-san. The nurses liked to talk a lot about him, all of them seemed to try and impress to him just how important and dangerous the other boy was, and how grateful he should be, because apparently Hibari-san had saved his ass from one psychotic nurse and a wacko administrator.

So, Hibari-san it was. It had been a two weeks since he had woken up, and Hibari-san had come to 'rest' three more times in those weeks. The first thing he had acknowledge about the other boy was that he liked things quiet, very quiet, like death quiet. Something very difficult for him, last time he had been awake he had been living in a fun-house full of explosions, and screams and general chaos.

"Welcome back…." He ventured quietly and he received a disgruntled grunt in response, Tsuna sighed, it would be another of the quiet days. With trembling legs Tsuna got up from his bed, and felt surprised eyes on him, he smiled lightly at the other and seated himself in the chair besides the window. Physical therapy was a bitch, but it was working.

A few minutes later, the doctor came in; it was always the same one he noticed. He treated Hibari-san in silence and efficiently and the dark-haired teen gave a small bow in thanks, then the sharp eyes of the doctor caught the still full glass of pink goo at his side.

Every day, at four hours intervals a different nurse came to visit him and try to coax some of the disgusting concoction down his throat. The first time he had tried to eat something solid he had vomited spectacularly. After that fiasco, the doctor had prohibited him any kind of food, condemning him to this tasteless, bland imitation of a fruit smoothie. It was disgusting and it reminded him so much of the food when he had been kidnapped that it made him shudder in revulsion.

"Really, you didn't even drink half of it? If you want to get better you need food! You're getting better very fast, but still!" He said while giving him that reproaching glare that only doctors seemed to manage "Unless you want us to feed you through a tube? Mmm?" Tsuna shuddered at the threat, having a plastic tube in his nose all the way down to his stomach? No, thank you.

"Hai…"

"Do you remember anything? Anything at all? Your name perhaps?" Asked the man, while cleaning up the materials he had used. Tsuna averted his eyes and shook his head.

"I see… well you have two hours before the next meal, so I suggest for you to drink that. And don't even think of disposing of it"

The door closed and Tsuna sighed in relief. "Why did you lie, herbivore?" And then tensed at the dangerous tone, it was like speaking with Reborn once more, that tone, daring him to lie.

"I-I… I'm sorry Hibari-san…"

The other one snorted and Tsuna felt himself tense even more. "Small herbivores like you should just stay in crowds…"

Crowds…? Ah! Family. Tsuna felt his stomach clench in hunger and anxiety and still, the disgusting beverage didn't look more attractive than before. "…I think… that they got tired of me… so I don't have a crowd anymore…"

"Mmm… how old are you?" Tsuna looked up, surprised at the other. That was it? No deeper questioning? "T-ten… well I was ten… now, uhm… I'm twelve, I think…" Surprised eyes looked him up and down and Tsuna felt himself blush in indignation, yes well, it wasn't his fault if he was short and scrawny…!

"Drink it."

"What?"

Hibari-san was holding up the glass before his face. "All of it, every single drop." Tsuna clenched his lips stubbornly, it was disgusting, and it was tick and slimy… and it was currently chocking him, because Hibari, in an interesting headlock maneuver had pinched his nose and was forcing the foul mixture down his throat.

With watering eyes and betrayal in them, he stared pathetically at the other, but Hibari only gave him time to breath before making him drink the rest of it. When he was done Tsuna rubbed his protesting stomach and glared sullenly at the dark haired beast.

"Hideous tasks must be made the quicker, otherwise they become more troublesome. Now keep quiet I'm going to sleep."

Tsuna stared in surprise when the teenager took the bed closest to the window; which was Tsuna's, instead of returning to his own. Really? First he tried to choke him to death and now he was stealing his bed? He glowered at him and then he saw the strange light strand appearing once more between them. It was ticker, he noticed, and it was pulsing like the others, he blinked twice and the image disappeared once more.

* * *

The last Estraneo, was in fact one of its earliest victims, he had been originally a doctor for the famiglia, but he had stumbled into one of their experiments and had been forced to take part on the proceedings.

His mind had snapped along the way; driven by guilt, he had started experimenting with his own body, he pumped all kind of venoms and serums trying to kill himself in his few moments of sanity, but in the process he gained a complete immunity to almost all kinds of venoms, and gaining the attention of the other scientists. Thus, he spent his last years as a guinea pig.

When the Vongola had attacked them, the very last piece of his sanity left him, he ran through the rubble covered in flames and had escaped into the sewers and proceeded to disappeared in them.

One of the Gesso family had saved him and discovered the deadly properties of his blood: he would take a single drop of his blood and taint with it his intended victim, and like the reptile he took his name from, it would only take him a scratch or a small wound to kill his prey.

Byakuran had told him about a group of kids surviving the Estraneo massacre and dangled the information about them like bait before an animal. Because, in the fractured mind of the man, he considered the kids as part of him and the Estraneo, and in his insanity, longed to kill them and then himself. Thus, finally ending the Estraneo legacy and his own suffering.

Such was the story and purpose of the Taipan.

* * *

Gokudera stared in trepidation at the white building, with no money and a basic understanding of the written language, it had taken him two days to find the wretched little town, and now, hopefully, his search would finish here.

He slipped with practiced ease through the meager security of the place. It only took him fifteen minutes to check the pediatric ward and the ICU, but didn't found anything. With a heavy heart, he slipped into the nurses station when the chattery women left to tend their patients, with nimble fingers he searched through the ages of every patient as well as the registers, and one caught his eye. Hibari. Male, Age unknown…, Suspected Pediatric Abuse, undernourished, anemia, post-coma-rehabilitation… He closed the screen and almost ran up the stairs… he stooped outside the door his heart trying to escape from his chest.

His hand trembled before reaching the door… what if this Hibari wasn't…

He breathed deeply, trying to keep his hand steady and pushed gently the door, and saw an empty bed, he staggered a bit, disappointment making him close his eyes in irritation and then stare at the empty bed, then he caught a movement from the corner of his eye, he turned his head to the left, slowly, so very slowly and his breath caught in his chest.

There, sleeping and looking thin and pale, was the face of the one he had vowed to dedicate his life to. It was him without a doubt, thinner and sickly looking but it was unquestionably him.

He approached the bed and seated himself in the chair at the side, he felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders only to be replace with an horrible thought, it had said post-coma rehabilitation, that meant… that he was late…

Tsuna-sama was awake, had been for who knows how long… was he angry? Sad? Would he send him away?

"H-hayato?" He froze at the broken whisper and didn't dare to raise his eyes; instead he knelt in front of the bed in choppy, stiff movements that betrayed his nervousness.

"Yes, it's me… Tsuna-sama… I'm sorry, I-I have been…well…"There were many things he wanted to say to him, he had thought sensible speeches and intelligent phrases to explain his charge just why it had taken him almost three years to return to his side. All of them escaped him at the moment and left him lost and afraid of this waif like boy before him.

Tsuna for his part was blinking at the kneeling, trembling boy at his side, for one, surprised at his mere presence and second, because he could see a troubled and scared red flame inside the other; it was jumping around like a scared cat and it also had a white thread going into his own chest, but this one was thicker than Hibari's, it looked sturdier, almost tangible. He blinked and the white thread disappeared. Leaving behind the image of his friend.

What Tsuna saw before him, was the same testy, scared boy he had seen that very first time in Italy.

"Hayato" He said softly, and he saw those green honest eyes watching him full of wariness, and hope… and Tsuna understood then, in the thin, gaunt face, in the patched clothes and the hands full of small injuries, in the unkempt hair and the smell of sea still clinging to his friend.

He had searched for him. He had not given up on him.

"Thank you." He said laughing in glee, and almost jumped out of the bed, smiling and laughing for the first time since waking up, repeating the two words over and over again, he felt the other panic and return the embrace, all awkwardness and careful arms.

"I'm sorry it took me so long…" Whispered the silver haired boy but Tsuna continued laughing, and looked at the face of his friend breaking the hug. He definitely looked older; more mature, and kind of tanned… but now, he looked peaceful in a way that he had never looked before. He seemed proud of himself.

"Thank you" He said once last time with the widest smile he could manage without hurting himself and flinched when his knobby knees starting hurting from the impact with the floor.

"Tsuna-sama? Did I hurt you? Are you all right? Do you want me to call a doctor?"

Tsuna smiled and got up slowly and with the techniques the nurse had taught him, Gokudera grabbed his arm and helped him back to the bed. "How long since…?"

"Two weeks… I think, I spent the first one drifting in and out of it."

"Oh…"

"Can I ask you… what they told you? How did you find me? I… I need to know…" He needed to stop this endless circle of 'ifs and whats' that were making him going crazy. He needed to know.

He listened patiently to the story, and smiled absently at the detailed and clinical way in which his friend explained some parts, he nodded and didn't interrupt. But almost laughed out loud at his epic traveling experience. When he finished, it was already very late.

"Tsuna-sama… does the hospital knows…?"He waved his hand in his general direction. "Who you are…?"

"No! Of course not! I… I told them I have amnesia." He played with the treads from his pajama and looked at his friend uncertainly, the other looked thoughtful. "Yes… as expected of Tsuna-sama, many coma patients has amnesia after waking up… we just need to contact the Family and.."

"No! Definitely no!"

"Uh? Why?"

"Don't you see? It's obvious they wanted to get rid of me, or at least to… send me away."

"Tsuna-sama I think there may be another explanation… they wouldn't…If I could contact your father?"

"I said NO! Promise me Hayato, promise me you won't let them know where I am when you return to Italy!"

Gokudera was looking at him funnily now, like trying to understand his words and failing. "When I return? What do you mean Tsuna-sama?"

"Well… you fulfilled your promise, and I'm like this, and you know…"

"Tsuna-sama! I vowed my life to you! My place is at your side! Unless you send me away I'm not moving one inch!"

Tsuna gaped at his friend, deeply troubled at the words and at the same time deeply hopeful. "B-but why?... I mean Why?" He said in a lost tone, looking deeply into the others eyes.

"Because… you accepted me, even when I was just a pest and kept shoving you around, playing bodyguard and only making trouble for you… you kept accepting and encouraging me… everybody, even Giotto-san, they just tolerated me, they put up with me… none of them believed in or even wanted me there, not at first." Said the bomber in firm tone, he had made a decision, an unshakable one.

"Hayato…"

"But you… you accepted me, and encouraged me… everything I am now, it started because of you. I'm sorry Tsuna-sama, but you just have to take responsibility for it!...that's it if you want…"

"What?" He tried to sound indignant but it ended being half amused half touched, he settled on smiling and bowing his head in defeat and just accepting his friend, it had been always like that, he just couldn't defeat him when it came to words.

"Who is this?" Tsuna flinched and looked at the door; Hibari-san was looking at Hayato in a murderous, angry way, like the way one looks at a dirty mutt lying on its doorstep.

"Who the hell wants to know?"

"Hayato! That… that's Hibari-san… he… I kind of owe him my life…" Now both of them were looking at him and each other alternately, one wary the other still annoyed. "You saved Tsuna-sama? How so?"

"He stopped someone trying to kill me. Please don't fight him Hayato!" He could see that Hibari-san was getting even more peeved. Whatever tolerance he had it was ending. Fast.

"I'm asking one more time herbivore, who are you?" Tsuna saw Gokudera bristle like an enraged cat, and he knew that his hands were twitching to take out his dynamites. This could get ugly very fast.

"I'm Tsuna-sama's bodyguard." Replied his friend and Tsuna flushed in embarrassment at the proud tone; to his surprise, Hayato had yet to blown anything apart, he had changed, he noticed.

"Hayato! His name is Gokudera Hayato… He is my friend Hibari-san… he was looking for me all this time…Uhm…please don't hurt him?" He asked with a small, trembling smile, Hibari for his part continued to look in disgust at the dirty clothes and disheveled appearance. And most of all the tell-tale posture of one who knew how to fight and defend. This was not an ordinary herbivore…

"I'm giving you ten seconds to get out of this town." He said in his most menacing tone, he activated the spikes on his tonfas, giving them a more menacing air, and saw in surprised glee how the herbivore took out his belt in mere seconds and covered his left hand with one half of it, leaving the other part free, thus making a good defensive weapon, this herbivore was really interesting…

"No! Unless you take me out in a coffin, I'm not moving!" He answered with a snarl, and then he moved in front of Tsuna, shielding the other with his body, he placed his stance to resist an attack and glowered at the other.

Hibari answered with a smile "As you wish." He launched his attack but the not-so-herbivore caught each blow, yet he wasn't fighting back, and this wasn't satisfactory to Hibari. With mounting irritation he caught him with a well-placed blow to his chest, sending the winded boy to his knees, and still, the other only glared back. "Tsuna-sama ordered me not to fight you, but I'm not moving from here, you heard me?" Hibari continued his assault and the other continued to evade his blows, little by little getting the fight away from his charge.

"HIEEEE! Hibari-san! Stop, stop! He is unharmed!" Said Tsuna crashing once more into the floor, Hibari rolled his eyes at the flailing herbivore and continued to frown at the other herbivore still glaring unflinchingly at him. A defender then… and not a cowardly one…

"Kusakabe!" He barked, and a tall teenager wearing a pompadour hair style entered the room.

"Yes President?" Asked his second in command, he was reluctantly pleased with the guy; he had remained in his ordered position during the confrontation.

"We have a new recruit. He is in charge of the hospital area, teach him the rules." The three of them looked as the teenager left the room without ado, leaving behind three gob-smacked and confused teens behind.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the place?" Asked G in an irritated tone, he felt terribly uncomfortable in this country, while he could speak a passable Japanese, what with Tsuna and Giotto speaking the gibberish, the little scribbles that passed as a written language were beyond him, all he could see were rows after rows of strange little symbols, so of course the written address was the same.

"Yes, G, now remember: Be polite."

"Prissy little…" Grumbled G while Giotto tried to stop his grin, he knew his friend loathed the flowery speech.

The house of Dr. Sasagawa was big, but small enough to be called normal. When the man had divorced his wife; Ana Salino, the little sister of the ninth's sun guardian. The woman had, in scorn, taken their only child with her from Japan to Italy and changed his surname.

The now Fabio Salino, halfway into middle school, had escaped her tender care to go around the world in search for the ultimate extreme sport. Giving birth to the living legend 'knuckles', all Giotto knew about the name was that it had been his little half-brother the one to give him the name.

"Are we going to stay here all day?" Said G, and Giotto prayed for the family to have some coffee at hand, G in coffee withdrawal was almost as scary as Rebon in the same state. He touched the white button and waited for the door to pen. When it did, he looked at a pretty girl with short hair smiling pleasantly at them, and he remembered that Knuckles had two half-siblings, one boy and a younger girl.

"Yes, how may I help you?" Came the sunny greeting and Giotto took out his charming persona, smiling gently at the girl. "Good morning, my name is Giotto and I am looking for Knuckles, we are his friends." He gave her his most brilliant smile and saw in gratification a dusting of red in the girl's face. "H-Hai! Oni-sama is in the backyard right now, he is training with oni-chan!"

At that time a body came flying through the air, and landed in the soft dirt, crushing half of the flower beds in the process. "Oni-chan!" The girl ran to the side of the fallen kid and Giotto saw in amusement as a sheepish Knuckles appeared in the scene. "I'm extremely sorry little-brother!"

"Dear God! There are two of them!" Gasped G in a horror stricken tone, Giotto could agree because of the uncanny similarities between the two, the only things that marked them apart was the age and hair, while one had dark the other was a grey-white.

"THAT WAS AN EXTREEME PUNCH ANIKI! Can you teach me? YES? YES? YES?"

Giotto was starting to get a bit nervous when G made a whimpering sound; he was gazing at the road with longing. "Oni-sama your friends came to visit." Explained the girl and Giotto waved at his friend, who immediately smiled at them

"Giotto! G-man! THIS IS AN EXTREEEME REUNION!"

Giotto smile dropped off his face when he saw the other prepare himself to tackle them in a hug. Knuckles hugs hurt, like in bone crushing hurt. He heard the resigned sigh of G, his marvelous friend G, who intercepted the hug to save his broken ribs from more pain. He flinched at the sound of the colliding bodies.

"AGH! LET ME GO! You extreme-idiot!" Panted G while turning around and grabbing the other's elbow, and then pulling the other hard, until he fell to his back, he put one feet in his chest and glared to him. "Where is the lazy-cow! Start talking!"

Unfazed Knucles continued to grin, while Ryohei stared in awe at G over the moves. "Uh Lampo? He is sleeping inside I think…"

Giotto smiled at the pair and approached his friends kneeling at his side with a grin. "Knuckles I'm happy to see you again! It's been what… three years? Are this your siblings?"

Knucles smiled at him. "This is Ryohei and this is Kyoko-chan, they're my extremely cute siblings!"

"HEY! I'm not cute! I'm an extreme boxer. Boxers are not cute Aniki! We are men amongst men!"

"HAHA, sorry! That's right! This is my extremely manly cute little brother!" Said the black haired teen. They started bickering while G let go of his victim and took out his cigarettes with trembling hands and a tick vein forming in his temple. Giotto saw Enma still hiding behind the fence, looking in wariness at the screaming match between the brothers, Giotto sighed and went to retrieve him.

Later, after a very long introductions and a few hours of talking and when they finally managed to tear away G's fingers from Lampo's neck, and Enma was left with Kyoko to babysit Lambo while Ryohei went to his afternoon running, they started with the tales. It was Lampo who told them their story, confirming G's theories.

"Okay, so your uncle was exchanging the ten year bazooka and information about the Vongola?"

"ah… yes. I even recorded it in Knuckles' phone. But they found us when Lambo started to cry"

G was unwillingly impressed at the pair. "Okay let's hear it." Said G but the other two looked sheepish at this, and G remembered the sunken ship. "It got ruined in the sea isn't?"

The other two flinched and Knuckles looked a little bit embarrassed. "Ah… no, I bought a special extreme phone, because all the others were too delicate, and It was waterproof… well you see… the other kid, I kind of left it with him."

"Other kid?"

"There was this extremely scary kid in the boat with us. He kind of helped us to reach the land. IT WAS SUCH A GREAT TRAINING! We should do it together sometime!" G felt vindicated when the other two admitted to having help.

Lampo pushed Knuckles out of the bed when he started to get too enthusiastic and he continued the tale. "He said his name was Antonio, and he kind of looked a lot like you…" Said Lampo, looking at him with narrowed eyes, he tilted his head and stared hard at him. Knuckles also squinted at him, invading his personal space and poked him in the cheek, until G shoved him away. "YES! They are extremely alike! He even had the same octopus hairstyle!"

"What did you say?"

"Yes but he had grayish hair… and had this scary explosives and the same hideous temper as you, OH! Yes and _that_ same glare!." Said Lampo. G and Giotto eyed each other in foreboding. G took out his phone and searched frantically through it; he finally found an old picture of Hayato and Tsuna and almost shoved the small screen to the other two.

"It was him?"

The two squinted at the tiny photo and Knuckles nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! He is the one who took my phone!"

"You left it with him idiot!" Giotto looked at G and blinked in astonishment. "It can't be…"

Meanwhile in Italy…

Cozart finally understood Giotto's fear of this man, it was not the gun, neither were the threats, no, it was that damn smirk that made the experience so scary, that 'I'm going to enjoy this' smile that made him finally cave in.

"Japan…they went to Japan." He said in defeat. 'Sorry Giotto…I could only gain you four days'

Reborn smiled sadistically and…was that a bit of pride in his eyes? "That's good, it saves us time. Pack your things Shimon, we have a plane to catch.

"Uh?"

"We found information about the tuna-fish. He is definitely in Japan."

* * *

You know that guy who feeds and takes care of your pet when you leave town? That's Gokudera to Hibari.

This chapter was so… emotionally draining to write… T.T


	7. Poison

**If you noticed that your eyes finally stopped bleeding from the grammar mistakes is because the WONDERFUL Sylvia-san betaed this chapter. You may thank her for all her hard work!**

Thank you so much for the reviews, they mean a lot for me and I love and apreciate your comments and suggestions. :) (Thanks to: **carrot-flavoured cookie** - sorry if it's not your name- **Amy-chan**. And who reviewed as a guest.) If you would leave your name please so I can thank you ;)

Yes! I'm writting an AN, so?

**Chapter 7 Poison**

Poison Scorpion Bianchi was number one in the Mafia when it came to poisons, or used to be… because the latest rating marked her in an humiliating number two. Two!

The little upstart had developed a new toxin. It caused complete paralysis and intense pain for two hours before the subject either killed himself or their heart gave out, which led to their death. No pain medications or sedatives seem to stop the agony of the victims. Those painful symptoms appeared on the normal subjects. However, they found out that the venom had a strange side effect in flame wielders. Apart from the pain, it activated the flame inside the victim until it burned its holder to a crisp.

Bianchi found herself regretfully fascinated. Incensed by her dethronement from the position of the number one poison user, she searched for an antidote for the new poison, or at least a way to kill the bastard who dared to steal her first place with his venom. But she had promised Reborn to fetch _that_ boy from Japan, and she could never refuse his love, anything.

'Well I could search for some ingredients while in Japan,' she thought, looking at the three syringes in her purse. While working for three weeks with Shamal and the best Vongola specialists, they had made a weak antidote that only prevented death but not the pain and paralysis. It had hurt their pride, hard.

She would show this little usurper what a true poison master could do.

* * *

'It Isn't as bad as I had imagined,' mused Gokudera, especially the one called Kusakabe Tetsuya; the second in command of that bloodthirsty lunatic. He was kind of… okay.

Gokudera was starting to understand that the Hibari bastard was powerful and had powerful connections. The day after finding Tsuna-sama, he hacked the records and found that all of Tsuna's reports and data were either deleted or in confidential status. He concluded that it had been the work of either the administrator or Hibari. There was no other explanation.

After the tonfa guy had almost crushed his skull and declared him his underling 'Che, the nerve of that bastard' , Kusakabe took him under his wing. He even gave him shelter in his own home, a pair of pants, a shirt he had grew out of, and had proceeded to explain the organization of the so called committee.

The group actually worked like a mix between a mafia in diapers and a vigilante group. It also made for the perfect cover when some suspicious nurse would ask the reason for him to always be besides Tsuna-sama. 'I was deployed here by Hibari' was a magical phrase for shutting up nosy people.

Kusakabe had also explained some ways he could make some money. One of them was by helping in the market as an errand boy. He seemed displeased when Gokudera told him that he would not attend school. Gokudera had made it perfectly clear that the only one he followed, was his Tsuna-sama. The other had stared long and hard at him and just nodded with a smile. Gokudera saw realization in the dark eyes. Then he remembered that this man had also vowed to follow another one through thick and thin. In the end, it had been a right hand-to right hand manly moment of bonding.

He had been working for a week now. The man in the fishery was happy for the help and Gokudera liked the silent man. He made deliveries to several restaurants and some houses in the morning, especially to his current destination: 'Takesushi'.

"Hey there! How can I help you?" Gokudera was startled when a man suddenly and silently appeared before him, his face in a cheery visage. "Ah…. I came to deliver this from Honda-san." He held up the package like a shield. The man had gotten into his space in a blink of an eye. He had not even sensed him!

"Oh, good, good… Hayate-kun, please come in. I need to return the container he lent me." He was always nervous around Yamamoto-san. There was a heavy aura around the man. It was like walking around a sleeping predator.

Gokudera eyed the small place. It was a family place; clean and airy. There were few decorations and the most distinct one was displayed on a wall. It was a photo of the man with two teenagers. The three of them were smiling widely at the camera. One was dressed in a kendo uniform, while the other had a baseball cap. It looked sickeningly sweet to Gokudera. He noticed someone enter through the back door. He blinked as he saw one of the teenagers from the photo.

"Ah! Hello!" Said the older one, he was tall and had neatly combed black hair and a cheery aura. The teenager looked in interest at Gokudera's shirt that said, 'Honda's Fishery'.

"You must be the new guy from Honda's! Everybody is happy with your work," beamed the black haired guy. Hayato tried to avoid the small pleased feeling at the words. The owner was a harsh taskmaster but very fair. "I'm Asari Yamamoto, and this is my little brother, Takeshi."

"Hey!" Hayato saw a new face. He could see the similarities between the two, but there was a difference. While the first had the same kind of dangerous air as Yamamoto-san, the other had all the characteristics and feeling of a carefree, naïve idiot; the kind that Gokudera couldn't stand.

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Goda Hayate. Please take care of me," he said in his formal tone. He had a rude greeting at the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't raise any suspicion. Goda Hayate was a shy, well-mannered boy; nothing more.

"Now! No need for formal stuff, Hayate-kun. These two are my sons. I asked them to help me today since we have a massive order for the evening," Yamamoto-san said. Gokudera took the container and a small brown-paper bag from Yamamoto-san. Gokudera now understood why the orders in the morning had been doubled. The younger kid was looking at him with interest and seemed intent in talking to him, but he ignored him. He should keep his head down and making friends would be detrimental to his cover.

"The small bag is for you. Those are some sweets from Nase-san. She has a daughter in the hospital and she said that she always sees you there with a small boy. Is he from your family?" the sushi-chef asked. Gokudera fought not to narrow his eyes or clench his jaw.

"Hai… He is a very important person to me." The other looked at him silently and deeply. Gokudera once more felt the dangerous aura from the man. He stayed calm and steady. He wasn't looking for problems after all. He just needed money to survive. Yamamoto-san apparently had stared enough because he gave him a pat on the back and smiled.

"Yes, protecting your loved ones is very important Hayate-kun." Gokudera nodded and hastily excused himself. "Take care. I will wait for you in the morning!"

Gokudera went out and started walking down the road until he noticed that he had forgotten the container. Grumbling, he went back and circumvented the front, planning to get inside through the backdoor as always.

He paused when he smelled a horrible stench. He knew that scent! That disgusting, putrid aroma! With careful movement, he took out a small pocket mirror and saw the eldest son of the sushi chef being dragged by a woman with purplish hair; a pink-purplish head that appeared constantly in his nightmares. Bianchi! Only seeing her back made his stomach clench. He was thankful now for Turmeric's desensitization therapy, but photos and videos couldn't compare to the real thing. He wasn't sure that he could resist puking if he saw her face…

What should he do? Follow her? Go to the hospital to Tsuna-sama? Had the Mafia caught him? Or it was a mere coincidence? He heard the footsteps leaving and clenched his jaw. He had looked unconscious, so maybe it was just a capture thing… His priority was Tsuna-sama. These people were of no concern to him. The small paper bag in his pocket reminded him of the warm smile and the cheery photo.

He turned around and ran inside the building. His loyalty was for Tsuna-sama, but he could at least inform the sushi-chef.

* * *

Giotto was dreaming once again. He was in a room he didn't recognize. He looked around and found three people inside. On the bed was a pale and tired-looking woman. Seated at his bedside was the image of the first mist guardian. He was holding the hand of the unconscious woman. Watching the scene and wearing a heavy frown was Primo. Giotto looked at his face. He was older than the last time he saw him and he looked tired.

'_I won't let you destroy my beloved Elena's legacy, Primo…'_ whispered the mist guardian. '_We have a military force because it is needed. The Vongola doesn't belong to only you.'_

'_I'm not talking about something like that. I just don't want to reduce our numbers… This is getting out of hand, Daemon and you know it.''_

_I can't believe that you still cling to your naïve ideal. That way of thinking is the reason the allied families are claiming for Ricardo to take your place. You have been neglecting your duties…'_

He saw Primo lower his gaze and nod in sadness_. 'And you__ are being over-paranoid… I can't support this kind of Vongola… This is not the reason why we're fighting! If the family insists on walking this path, then… I'll step down and give the ring to Ricardo.'_

'_Mmm… and the contract with the shield?'_

'_I will maintain it of course… I won't let Elena carry all the burdens.'_

'_As long as you do it, you can do whatever you like. The Vongola won't fall without you, Primo,'_ said Daemon. Giotto frowned. The reason behind Primo's retirement was a secret and while everybody had its own theory, it seemed that this was the real one. He saw the dream-image of Primo getting closer to the bed and seated himself on the other chair.

'_My Dear?'_ asked a tired voice and Giotto saw Elena opening her tired eyes, she seemed to be feverish.

'_Yes, my beloved? How may I serve you?'_ whispered Daemon. The woman searched for his hand and then extended the other to Primo, who took it gently.

'_Please… promise me...' _she said in a tired whisper. _'Don't give up on our Vongola…Please, don't __give up on our family…Promise me.' _Daemon nodded gently. He gave her a soft kiss and then glared pointedly at Primo, who also gently squeezed the hand.

'_Of course not, Elena…' _The woman smiled gently, as if relieved and went to sleep once more. Primo seemed to be deep in contemplation for a while and then stared hard at Daemon, his eyes burning.

'_Daemon, you told me once about your theory of reincarnation… How a soul can be tied to an object; can you explain it to me?' _The mist guardian tensed for a moment as if caught in something, but then relaxed when he saw the face of Primo. He smiled in an amused way.

'_Nufufu. Why are you asking me of the forbidden arts, Primo? This isn't like you.'_

'_I want to…'_

"LAMBO-SAMA IS THE KING! HAHAHAHA!"

Giotto fell off his bed at the scream and rubbed his head, staring in confusion at the blue ceiling and the screaming outside his room.

"Lambo-chan! Don't run around naked! You're going to get a cold!" Giotto blinked at the commotion. 'That was Knuckle's little sister…' He sighed and looked at the ceiling. He suddenly felt very sleepy. His eyelids were heavy and closing, as if something inside him was urging him to sleep once more. He tried to wake up, but the heaviness became too much and he closed his eyes. Someone was calling for him.

* * *

"Stop pushing your weight on your hands! Use your legs!" Tsuna clenched his teeth. It was hard; harder than Reborn's training and Fon-sensei's training. It hurt like hell, too.

"Stop daydreaming! You're going to…! Ah!" His concentration slipped and so did his feet. He fell to the soft cushion under the parallel bars. He panted on the floor and stared in silent apology to his rehabilitation coach, like she wanted to be called. Kiri-san, his physical therapist, was gentle, but hard with him; pushing him until he felt the need to cry and beg for a respite.

"Once more?" he asked her and the woman looked reluctant, but nodded and helped him to once more get to the bars. "You shouldn't push yourself so hard… You're recovering nicely."

"I'm tired of being weak," he said in a whisper, forcing his legs to move. There was a prickly feeling at the back of his head and sometimes he could feel a pulling sensation in his wrist. Something was coming and it was bad…

"That's one turn. Now, try to turn around without support! That's it! Use the muscle! Not the knee!" He let go of the safety bars and frowned when his legs trembled at the additional weight. Ever since waking up, he had started to have dreams; dreams about his family. He saw his family members dying and suffering, over and over until he woke up with a strangled cry and pajamas soaked in sweat.

He had accepted that the strange dream about that Capro Espiatorio thing was in fact, real. Somehow, he had agreed to become some kind of protector for his family. But now he felt himself doubting his decision. They obviously didn't want him.

"Wait! Wait! That's enough!" A strong hand lifted him by his waist and he felt his humiliation grow. Why did people feel the need to carry him around in the most embarrassing ways? "That was very good. Are you eating well?" asked Kiri-san. Tsuna nodded with a disgruntled frown.

Of course he was eating. It wasn't as if he had a choice anyways. There was always a nurse or Hayato almost shoving the food down his throat. His only consolation was that they had started to give him soft foods. He had almost wept in glee at finally chewing his food.

He let the woman put him in the wheelchair. Then, she left him in the gardens with a cheery 'You need more sun. I will tell the nurses where to find you!' The air felt nice… It was like when Giotto and he napped outside. The thought sobered him up and he frowned at his wrist. He could feel, whatever the thing was, beginning to break apart. Each day, his hands felt lighter. But he was afraid about what that meant to his family. What should he do?

He closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth of the sun, and suddenly felt a small tug on his wrists. He continued to keep his eyes closed and felt a thread becoming tense. He followed it and found an Indigo flame. So he didn't hallucinate that encounter?

He prodded the flame and the flame prodded back. Suddenly, the flame was enlarging in his direction, almost like expanding mist…

"Kufufufu, dear Tsunayoshi! What a nice surprise, I was looking for you and you found me first!" Tsuna opened his eyes and saw a torso and a head floating beside his chair, as if this Mukuro was a ghost.

"You're older" he pointed out; the other looked puzzled for a second and then smiled in amusement. "So you are Tsunayoshi. You slept a long time and I couldn't find you… Wait a second..." He felt the brush of those fingers on his temple and inside his mind. "Oh? Japan? How did you get there…?" His voice went up and down in volume, sometimes even getting distorted, and he sounded annoyed "…Even now it is difficult to reach for you. There is this… white wall around you."

"Really? Uhm… Does it glow? And does it have a lot of little rays coming out from it?" Now Mukuro looked alert and very interested. "Yes, it reeks of the power of the Tri-Ni-Set, and it won't let me get closer to you inside your dreams. Do you know what is it?" Tsuna shook his head, confused at the Tri-Ni-Something. He only knew that it was the power that had been given to him by those people; to protect the Vongola, but he didn't know anything else.

"All these threads are gathered in you… It's feeding on your flame," said Mukuro, staring hard at his wrists. He looked kind of angry, Tsuna observed.

"Yes…It was like this when I woke up…"

"…Don't you see that this is the way the Mafia works? They obviously did something to you and then tossed you away like a piece of trash. And yet, I can still feel your loyalty and love for them. You're an idiot."

"I'm sorry…" he whispered, deeply troubled at the words. He looked at the older Mukuro. He seemed good enough. "Are you okay? What about Chikusa and Ken? Are you all safe? Can you say hi to them for me?"

"Oya? Worrying about us? Kufufufu. Yes, you're definitely an idiot. We are safe. We finished our training with the mist guardian. We were occupied with a little trinket for my collection. Also, we got some strays with us. I'm coming to get you now." Tsuna gaped at the factual tone. It wasn't a question or a threat, it was a fact.

"But… you… And, I can't leave here!"

"Why not? Do you love your new place so much? How much time do you think will pass before someone from the Mafia finds you, Tsunayoshi? Do you have anyone worth protecting with you there?"

'Hayato,' his mind supplied and it was accompanied by a very weak and hesitant Hibari-san, but no other name came up. He felt again the brush of fingers in his mind. It felt cold, like water. "Mmm I suppose that your bodyguard can come with us, he seems loyal and useful enough…But that other man… Mmm I don't like him…"

"Mukuro!"

"Kufufufu… Don't worry your little head about it! I cannot let the mafia sink their claws in you again. I will show you how ugly they really are." Tsuna felt memories invade his mind. He shuddered at the carnage and pain. "Stop, stop it!"

"You see… This is the Mafia. Come with me Tsunayoshi. I won't let you become covered in this filth"

"Nufufufu. No, that won't do." There was a second voice, Tsuna noticed. It was cold and amused at the same time. "Why should I let you rob our little Lamb?" Mukuro was glaring at the air and Tsuna felt another flame. It was the same color of Mukuro's, although a little bit darker, and definitely bigger.

"Who is this?" he heard Mukuro ask.

"Just another wolf." A shadow appeared behind Mukuro and seemingly enveloped his form. Tsuna heard a scream of pain and saw the smaller flame retreat and disappear in the darkness.

"Mukuro? Mukuro!"

"Nufufufu. I just gave him a little warning, little lamb. Naughty little wolves shouldn't try to eat others little Lambs." Tsuna shivered, there was a cold aura enveloping him. He saw a handsome face appearing in the mist and a strange symbol appearing in one of the eyes. "Did you like the dreams I sent to you?" he asked in a tender tone, ghostly fingers brushing his temple.

"Those dreams…It was you?" He was looking horrified at the teen. Those horrible nightmares of his family dying and suffering came from him?

"Nufufufufu… they were a present, little Lamb. An example of what will happen if you refuse to be the shield." The fingers were on his neck now, softly pressing on his windpipe. "Did you like the feel of their blood on your hands? Was it warm?" He was paralyzed at the images and sounds; he could almost feel the wet liquid on his hands. "Shhh… don't worry, everything will be as it should little Lamb… See you soon."

Tsuna felt the flame going away and he relaxed his tense body. He was covered in sweat and trembling. What should he do? What?

* * *

The one called the 'Taipan', watched the town in disgust. It was bathed in light, a cheerful innocent little town that could barely be called a city. He despised the naive faces of everybody. The stench of innocence and simplicity permeating the merry air. His prey was in this town, or at least it seemed like it. He could kill twenty of these worms before they could even notice him. He sneered one last time at a pair of college girls giggling in a café and turned around, intent to let the little Gesso underlings do the searching. Then he saw something very interesting.

Across the street was one of his victims, the green haired one. He was wearing sunglasses and a hat, but the hair gave him away; as well as the body height and weight. Besides him was another boy wearing a cap, sunglasses and a snow suit. On his back was a third person covered in a large sheet, his face hidden, and they were running as if in a hurry. He inhaled once, his lips stretching in a predatory smile.

"Run, run little mouse…"

* * *

When G started to look for Hayato, he had not expected it to be easy. Luckily for him, the beach where they had arrived at was near Namimori, and the image of a gray-haired foreign child wandering alone was an easy trail to follow. But still, it took him almost four days to reach the small town that was just two hours away from Namimori. His last clue was a small hospital in the outskirts of the little town, but he had not expected to find this group of people in front of it.

G stared at the assembly. Cozart looked sheepish while Signore Reborn was smiling pleasantly at him, which in fact was pretty terrifying…But it was the other two people who made him doubt his own eyes.

"Asari? What are you doing here?" He had not seen the swordsman for years, and yet, that cheery smile was undeniable Asari's. He had been an exchange student all through middle school with him and Giotto, before returning to Japan. But to see him here was surreal.

"Hello! My friend, Reborn-san told me that you are having a lot of trouble lately. And they are asking me to help," he said in a cheery voice.

"Chaos! What a coincidence to find you here, Gualterio!" said Reborn. G clenched his teeth at the word. How he hated that cursed name. "Ah… Signore Reborn…What are you doing here? And with her…?" He said pointing to the last person, a very familiar one.

"What? You're not going to greet your own cousin?" asked Bianchi with a smile, while taking a poison cake in her hand. G frowned at her and pointed at Asari. "You kidnapped him or something equally stupid right?"

"I'm a professional, what did you expect?" said Bianchi with a smirk and continued to hug Reborn with a love-sick expression. "Reborn asked me to retrieve him, so I did. End of the story."

"Ma, ma… It's okay G. I called back home to tell them everything is alright and that I was just with some friends," said Asari with his best placating tone while G continued to stare at Reborn, silently demanding an explanation.

Reborn smirked and pointed to the small hospital. "The CEDEF found an old report of an abandoned comatose child from two years ago. It was sent to the national register. It was brief but contained the print of his thumb."

G gasped, and stared hard at Reborn, his mind working overdrive. "Tsuna." He breathed and Reborn nodded. "I checked and he was sent to a town called Namimori. We were preparing to go there. The question is: What are _you_ doing here? Where is my idiot-student?"

"Ah, Giotto is with Knuckles and Lampo. We found them last week. I came here to look for Hayato."

"Gokudera?" questioned Reborn with a frown. "Hayato? What do you mean? What is he doing in Japan…?" asked Bianchi with a desperate gaze and G stared at her in surprise. Reborn for his part seemed to realize something because he smiled widely "He found Tsuna." He declared with an elated laugh. "Oh! I just want to see Iemitsu's face when he finds out."

"Well, it seems we all underestimated my cousin," said G with a small smile. "Hold on! Did you say Namimori?"

"Yes, it's close enough. A few hours away while driving." G took out his phone and dialed frantically. He waited and tried once more and frowned darkly. He entered a new number with a scowl. On the other side, Kyoko answered the phone. " Sasagawa Residence, how can I help you?"

"Kyoko-chan, this is G. Can you please tell Giotto to pick up his phone? It's very important."

"Ah! G-san. They didn't contact you? They're at the hospital. They took Giotto-san to the doctor." G felt a rush of adrenaline at the words. He clasped the phone and forced himself to remain calm. "Do you know why they took Giotto to the hospital Kyoko-chan?" he said in benefit for the others and saw Reborn's gaze darken.

"Ah, yes. One day after you left, he didn't come out of his room and no one could wake him up, and since dad is out of town they took him to the hospital," came the troubled voice. G clenched his teeth.

"I see… Thank you Kyoko-chan. I will see if I can contact them. Don't leave the house for now, okay?" He heard Kyoko about to argue and he "But…" G closed the phone, cutting off Kyoko, and stared at the group. He had a very bad feeling about this.

Reborn for his part, frowned back. "This is bad. We have reports on the Gesso Family sending a large group of people to Japan and we also confirmed that the Taipan is hot on your trails…"

"Did you come alone Signore Reborn?" asked G with an equally preoccupied look. "No, I brought with me some of the Shimon Famiglia and Cavallone. We didn't want to raise any suspicion over the trip, so Cozart and I left earlier…They should be here by today…"

G frowned. Yes, he definitely had a very bad feeling about this.

* * *

Gokudera stared in apprehension at the street across the hospital. He was sure now. The town was being targeted by some Famiglia, and it wasn't the Vongola. After alerting the sushi chef about the kidnapping, he had left to the hospital, a feeling in his gut telling him to hurry. On his way, he saw several men and women exuding a dangerous aura. Their movements were too fluid and too alert. Gokudera snorted. Their white suits and wary gazes gave them out in the first place and all had the same white watches on their right hands. He only knew of one family who did that: the Gesso.

Had they found Tsuna-sama? Were they trying to kidnap him? But there was something that made him doubt this. They were circling the emergency room area like sharks. From the room Tsuna was in, he could see the area in front of the emergency, but not the entrance or the interior. However, all the attention was centered on the E.R. There was something they wanted there, but it wasn't Tsuna.

Gokudera closed the binds with trembling hands. Fourteen. He had counted fourteen people so far. He needed to get out and search for an escape route.

"Is something wrong Hayato?" Tsuna asked. He was propped on his arms, tired after doing a whole morning of strengthening exercises. His recovery was astounding and Gokudera suspected that his flame was speeding the process.

"I want to check out something outside, Tsuna-sama. I saw some suspicious people outside. Please don't leave your room." Better to make him wary than oblivious to the danger.

"Of course… Please be careful," said Tsuna. Tsuna clenched his hands in the covers of his bed. There was a small flame in his eyes, Gokudera noticed with satisfaction. Yes, he was healing nicely.

"Of course Tsuna-sama." With swift steps he went out of the room, grateful for the black cap he had purchased the day before. He went to the cafeteria and bought a bottle of juice while eying the area; two in the lobby. He took his juice and wandered aimlessly in the gardens, taking care of chatting with a nurse about nothing. Twenty spread out and five hidden in the peripheries.

He tossed the empty bottle and returned to the hospital, his hands sweaty and trembling. He could manage five or six at the same time, but more than that would make things dangerous, and if he had to protect Tsuna-sama… Their best option was to mingle with the rest of the people and escape with the crowd when the shit hit the fan.

He would not fail again.

* * *

Lampo and Knuckles stared at the doctor in clear annoyance. Did they know his name? Of course. Age? No problem! But did they knew what medications he consumed, any familiar disease, past diseases or surgeries, current illness, type of blood, or size of shoe from when he was five?

"We found the guy on the street, okay? We couldn't wake him up, so we brought him here," said an annoyed Lampo at the equally annoyed resident. They started a glare contest and then the man in scrubs just sighed. "Look… We need to make more exams. All the blood tests came out all right, as well as the image scan. The brain waves are normal too. It's really atypical. He is just sleeping…"

Knuckles stayed quiet for once and continued to watch the doctor. He nodded and pulled Lampo back to the chair. "Thank you, doctor. We would like to stay here for a while, just in case…"

"Look, if you're not his family, then I just can't let you stay here…Now what?" He exclaimed when a series of screams filled the room. Then, the man dived behind a desk when the first sound of gunfire came from outside.

Lampo and Knuckles followed and they stared behind another desk at the gruesome image of a deformed man holding a nurse by the neck. She was screaming in pain, although there was no visible injury.

"Little mouse, where are you?" bellowed the man. The scarred mouth let out a sibilant, choppy sound more than a proper scream. He looked annoyed at the woman in his grasp and clenched his hand on her throat, chocking her, and thus impeding her from screaming.

Knuckles almost launched himself into the man, but Lampo grabbed his arm pointing at the bed closest to the man; the one where Giotto was sleeping in. "Wait… This is the guy that G warned us about. We need to take him by surprise," whispered Lampo, taking out a stun-gun and two explosives that G had given him. "I can't use my horns without getting closer, so we have to make it quick."

The man was still talking to the scared audience. He was peeking at each bed and was now leaning over another nurse who was beyond pale and only stared in fright at the man. He had a photo in his hand and was asking something to the woman. "Over there! They were over there! Please don't hurt me!" She screamed and Knuckles swore. "No time for planning. Just keep the pace," he said to Lampo, before grabbing the desk and punching it in the middle, sending the pieces flying to the man. "Take Giotto out. I'm dealing with him."

"W-wait! Agh! Why do you always do this?" Lampo said, but started running as soon as the other started speaking. He ran and dived behind the bed where Giotto was sleeping in. He heard the tortured screaming of the woman starting once more but he forced himself to ignore it. He grabbed Giotto and dragged the taller boy to the exit.

"G is going to kill me." At the end of the ward, he saw the deformed assassin cackling in glee at the pieces of the desk imbedded in his stomach and legs. "Ke, ke. Little mouse has teeth! Come, come to me, my prey." He cackled and got up, smiling widely at the teenager before him. Lampo gasped at the uncovered face. The whole head was a mass of scarred skin and some places were mostly just a layer of scarred tissue that stretched over the bone. The eyes were mere slits, almost closed by the stretched skin. His eyelashes and eyebrows were gone, giving him reptilian features, while the bloodshot eyes gave the gray irises a wild look. The nose was a knotted piece of flesh, as if someone had tried its best to make it stay in place and failed spectacularly, leaving a lump of scarred flesh in its place. But what made it worse, was the madness in the eyes and his gestures. Whatever resemblance he had as a human was blurred with the animal like movements and the bloodshot eyes staring at nothing. "Yes, yes. Come to me little mouse…HAHAHA…"

"Knuckles get back here! Don't let him get closer!" screamed Lampo and then he clamped a hand to his mouth when the crazy eyes focused on him. He felt his stomach protest at the mucus covered eyelids and the stretched chapped lips covered in a humid crust. It truly was a hideous sight. The screaming of the rapidly fleeing people and the woman still writhing on the floor made it more horrible.

"What are you waiting for? Take him outside!" screamed Knuckles. Lampo scrambled and grabbed Giotto, rushing to the exit with the rest of the people. He paused when a woman fell at his feet from a gunshot. He trembled at the sight in front of him. There were at least ten armed men before him with their weapons locked on him. "That's him! Kill him!"

Lampo evaded the first salvo by pure agility and luck, but he was sure that the next would mean their end. Yes, G was going to kill him. No doubt about it. He would revive and then kill him for this. He heard the gunshots and closed his eyes, protecting whatever he could of Giotto's body with his own. Then he was on his back. Lampo flinched at the sudden burst of intense heat.

"Who are you?" said an enraged voice. He looked up. It was Giotto. Not only was he awake, but he looked frightening. His hands and head were covered in impressive flames. He had one hand up, making a shield with his flames while the other had several of the firearms in it.

"Who are you? What business do you have with the Vongola?" He repeated in almost a roar. He was staring at each of the men and Lampo noticed in horror that more people dressed in white suits were surrounding them. One of them was speaking rapidly in his phone and looked pale.

"These are orders form the boss. Don't leave any survivors. Kill them all. Don't let any Vongola escape." howled the man and Lampo flinched in fright at the guns pointed once more at them.

"You're from the Gesso," said Giotto in an impassive voice, stating the truth. "Lampo, prepare to run, I'm going to stop them."

"S-sure…." he answered and got up from the floor with shaky legs, but determination in his posture. He had a stupid cousin to protect, and he couldn't die here and leave his Famiglia in the hands of his uncle. "Knuckles is inside with the Taipan." He said to his friend and Giotto glared at the doors behind him, only to stare when said doors exploded in a shower of glass when a bleeding and screaming body went through it.

"Ah… That's the assassin," Lampo pointed unnecessarily, but Giotto was looking in wariness at the bleeding man. "EXTREEEME WIN!" screamed Knuckles and Giotto half smiled at the tone. The three of them formed a triangle. Giotto wasn't surprised when he saw the assassin get up from the floor, ignoring his open wounds. In fact, said wounds were steaming. The toxic blood cauterizing and burning the wounds, closing them and leaving behind more scarred flesh.

"Well… That's disgusting!" exclaimed Lampo. The Vongola Decimo looked at his friends and their enemy. They were outnumbered and surrounded. He would make them pay for targeting his friends.

"Get ready, Lampo, knuckles. Don't let them corner you!" Giotto launched himself to the front, cutting the enemy lines in half; melting the guns and knocking the men left and right. His hyper intuition was the only thing saving him from the bullets. He grabbed a man and used him as a shield and then tossed him to the others. He could see Lampo making an explosion with some kind of explosives and Knuckles was making good use of his mixed martial arts training and his incredible strength.

But the biggest threat was still alive. He needed to take out the Taipan first. His eyes searched in the mass of fighting bodies and didn't find the man. Had he escaped? No, this man was rumored to have a single focus, and he never leave his prey alone until they were dead. So what was going on?

He saw a series of explosions in the entrance of the hospital and recognized the flame of G's archery. Giotto smiled when he saw a bunch of men being lifted from the ground and then forcibly squashed in the earth.

"G, Cozart." He breathed and looked in worry as more men, completely dressed in white and gray masks, invaded the main building of the hospital. This was no longer an assassination attempt. This could become a massacre.

* * *

The Taipan was amused at his prey. It was tricky and fast, never staying in place, and evading all his little darts. One of his preys was running to the exit, so he launched himself to follow, like a serpent attacking the movement. He felt a strong arm grabbing his shoulder from behind, punching his face and then breaking his collarbone with an elbow, and finally a kick in his back sent him flying into the door with. He felt pain for the very first time in years. He stared in fascination at the flowing blood and laughed in amusement at his targets and the little army that Byakuran had sent with him.

'This hunting is so thrilling,' he thought, while staring at the white building, waiting for his wounds to finish closing. Then he saw it: In one of the windows of the hospital, was a pale face staring in fright at the group of men. He a head full of fluffy brown hair and fear filled, large caramel eyes.

"8-b…" he whispered. One of his children, one of his lovely specimens. He was here. He smiled so widely that some of the scarred skin broke, making it bleed once more. He motioned a squadron to follow him, forgetting the other prey. His sights were on one of his most desired one.

* * *

G stared in horror when the car finally reached the hospital. There were screaming people running out of the place. Some doctors were carrying patients and pushing wheelchairs. One hysterical nurse was screaming something about a monster from hell.

"Signore Reborn! Please find Tsuna! We will find the idiots!" shouted G in hurry. The man just nodded and left the car like a black flash. G, Cozart, Asari and Bianchi looked at the group of men dressed in white. All of them had a very distinct white clock on their hands.

"The damn Gesso! They are going to make this into a war!" growled G. They couldn't go to war. They just couldn't. "Get them and then get out!" he ordered to the others. The reinforcements would not make it in time. They were alone.

He activated his flame, letting all his anger and determination fuel it. If Tsuna was in this hospital, then Hayato was as well. "Please, just stay safe" He prayed and then jumped into the fray.

When Mukuro reached the town of Namimori, he had expected Chikusa and Ken to find him in front of the designated park, the one closest to the hospital. They had recovered a most prized nightmare ring and several other trinkets for his subordinates while he was in Germany. Now they just needed to pick up his little fish and they could go back to Europe. Greece perhaps…

But Ken and Chikusa were late, twenty minutes late. He could not reach their minds. This was worrying. He felt cold air invading his lungs and a humid smell. The park disappeared from around him and a rocky dessert surged instead. The cracked earth let out strange fumes. The sun disappeared, letting the place get cold and dark. Mukuro closed his eyes in concentration. This was a very strong illusion. He couldn't find a fault with it. Images, sound, smell, even the reaction of his skin to the temperature; everything was perfect.

He put on the ring and activated it, feeling the power trying to take over his mind. It was difficult to control. Between his eye and this ring, it was a heavy burden to maintain his sanity intact.

"Nufufufu… Good afternoon, my fellow illusionist." He saw several pairs of bloodshot and shining eyes appear in the shadows. Some were floating and some at the level of his knees. Animals or monsters most likely.

"Let me introduce myself properly." Mist appeared in the nightmarish world and in the middle, a figure of an older teenager surged from it. He was taller and had ridiculous melon-like hair in the eyes of Mukuro's. But what made him pause was the eye of the other. It was so similar and yet so different from his.

"Daemon Spade at your service." He gave a curtsy, like the ones of the nobility of the past and smiled. "I'm here to detain you in the name of the Serbische Mafia, Mukuro Rokudo." Then the teenager tossed to his feet, a pair of glasses and several hair clips that he instantly recognized as Ken's and Chikusa's. "The Serbische Mafia are very angry at you… Seems that you took something from them. Two nightmare rings and four other items, right?" said Daemon with a reproaching stare. While Mukuro maintained his bored gaze, he was wary inside. They had taken only one ring and three objects, not six.

He looked at the left hand of Daemon and saw in anger a second nightmare ring. Daemon had surely robbed the other ring and the second object. "Of course, I volunteered to give information about the nasty robbers and being the Good Samaritan I am, I promised to retrieve the rings and deliver punishment."

"Oya? And what was the price for this?" asked Mukuro. He continued to try and contact his underlings and failed. He glared at the other, but maintained his place. Any errors would be fatal to him.

"Nufufufu… just a little alliance and the right to take your head." Daemon opened his arms and Mukuro saw the edges of the imaginary world bend and twist, creating new planes and levels. He heard the growls and the sound of beating wings around him and clasped his trident. He opened with wide eyes when a second Daemon appeared behind him, clasping a hand above his left eye.

"Shall we play, little wolf?"

* * *

Taipan- An Australian serpent- kind of cute actually...

**If you noticed that your eyes finally stopped bleeding from the grammar mistakes is because the WONDERFUL Sylvia-san betaed this chapter. You may thank her for all her hard work!**

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	8. Fight and protect

**This chapter has been beated once more by Sylvia-san. Please thank her for her endless patience with me, since it's thanks to her that this fic is getting better XD**

**Thanks for the reviews and favs. We are amazed at your support of this story. **

Special Thanks to certain Carrot ;)**  
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Just to clear things: About the strength of the 10 gen, they are currently 12-13 years old, and only Gokudera, and Mukuro are really 'trained' Tsuna is also weakened (2years in a bed).

**Chapter 8: ****Fight and protect**

When he heard the gunshots, Tsuna almost jumped out of his skin. His hands became sweaty and his heart tried to escape through his throat. Then, the screaming started. The boy went to the window in order to see what was happening and proceeded to freeze at the sight.

There was a group of strange people in white suits. They were in front of the emergency room. All of them were heavily armed and seemingly waiting for something. Then, the people from the emergency area started to run out of the doors. He saw in horror how some managed to pass the human wall, but many didn't. Tsuna clenched his hands on the windowsill. He couldn't hear anything more than the screams, until one of the men screamed something and more of the people in white joined in.

Suddenly, Tsuna saw a flash of a flame; an orange blur that attacked the group. He felt his stomach clench and his own flame jump in surprise. "G-Giotto?" he whispered in a broken voice. How? When? He had only managed to take a peek, but those flames were unmistakable.

He gasped when something went flying out of the place in an impressive explosion of glass and pieces of metal from what used to be the doors. His wide eyes stared at the bleeding man that seated himself in the pavement and then began to laugh at his own wounds. He looked to be swaying as if drunk, and Tsuna let go of the windowsill to step back. Then he saw his face. He locked his eyes with him and Tsuna felt a shiver of fear and revulsion making him choke. He knew those eyes! He had seen them every day, from across his and Mukuro's cell. That pair of crazy, hungry eyes that stared at them every time the door opened. That is until one day, he had disappeared.

He saw the man grin at him and Tsuna screamed in fear when a hand grabbed him by the waist, dragging him away from the window. "Tsuna-sama! We have to leave. Now!" It was Hayato he noticed. He seemed pale, but resolute. He had a gun in his hand and Tsuna could see some sticks of dynamites on his belt. He seemed ready for war.

"Hayato! What is going on?" he asked in a rush. He let the other boy push him to the wheelchair and put a black cap on his head.

"I don't know, but it is bad. They are crazy! They just started killing anyone on sight. We are leaving through the service area," Gokudera explained. It was the only way to leave without being exposed to those bunch of lunatics. He paused and looked at his friend in the eyes. "Tsuna-sama, it seems that they don't know about you, so keep your head down please," he pleaded while passing Tsuna a smaller gun. Tsuna looked at the thing with reluctance. Yes, his family had taught him how to shoot a gun, but he had never liked the loud things. Plus, the rebound always made his arms hurt.

"Don't leave my sight. If I tell you to run, you do it. In your state, you are an easy target…And we don't even have a bulletproof vest." Tsuna stared at the fierce eyes and nodded numbly. He could only walk small distances and his arm strength was a joke. He couldn't argue with that.

Should he inform Gokudera about Giotto? He wondered. Then, he gasped when he felt a pulling sensation on his wrist. He squinted when several strings of light appeared before his eyes. They were tense and pulling at him. He could almost hear the voices calling for him.

"Okay. Let's go," Tsuna said. He wasn't ready to see them just yet. He needed more time; just a little more time to think. Gokudera maneuvered the chair with a mysterious skill. He evaded hysterical patients and medical staff, as well as annoying the security personnel that were trying to evacuate the people to the stairs.

'Idiots,' Gokudera thought. This was not an earthquake. This was an attack. Evacuating through the front doors was the worst thing they could do.

He felt an arm reaching for him and he almost shot the idiot in the head. He barely managed to stop himself when he recognized the younger of the Yamamoto brothers. Takeshi or something. "What the hell are you doing here?" He growled while continuing his route. The other was pale and looked pretty confused at the situation.

"Goda-kun!" he exclaimed while looking nervous and scared at the situation. However, he didn't seem ready to run around in panic yet. "I came to tell you that my brother is fine. It was a misunderstanding. You seemed pretty panicked, so I thought you would like to know that he is alright… Hey…W-what's happening here?" he asked and Gokudera dragged him along. Meanwhile, Tsuna was looking at the other in wariness and curiosity.

"Some psychos are attacking the hospital. We need to leave, so keep your mouth shut and follow us if you want to live." Gokudera couldn't understand why he was letting this idiot follow them. Two non-combatants would make his mission harder. He ought to just push the other away and leave him behind. He should…

"My child, how are you?" came a creepy voice when they almost reached the second pair of stairs. Gokudera glared at the deformed man that appeared before them. He was carrying needles in one hand and darts in the other that no doubt had some kind of drug or venom. He pushed the wheelchair behind him and faced the monster.

"What do you want?" he asked, while trying to cover as much of Tsuna as he could. The man's eyes were fixed on the small boy. His neck was extending like a snake, trying to get a look at the child.

"My child of course," answered the man in an oily tone. Gokudera shivered at his eyes. They looked feral. He didn't hesitate anymore and shot three times; two at the arms and one to the face. He saw the bullet penetrate one eye and watched in disgust as the blood almost instantly became a thick glob of smoking goo.

"Hey… Yamamoto. Can you carry Tsuna-sama on your back?" he asked to the teen. The other boy looked at him with wide eyes but nodded, his eyes getting a determined glint when he noticed a shivering and pale Tsuna staring at the monster in front of them. "Yes," he answered. He grabbed Tsuna from the chair, hoisting him to his back.

The assassin continued to stare at them, ignoring the wounded eye and the holes in his arms. He seemed to be to gone in his madness to not feel the pain."Give him to me," he whispered, along with the hacking laugh. Gokudera snarled at him. He saw a group of the men in white appearing behind the lunatic and swore.

The bomber heard a man in the back of the group scream in pain, followed by a white blur that slammed into a wall that slid to the ground, leaving behind a bloody trail.

"For breaking the rules of Namimori, I'm going to bite you all to death..." said an enraged voice. Gokudera would deny for the rest of his life about the relieved smile that appeared on his face when the tonfa demon appeared behind the group.

He gave one look at the other prefect and saw Hibari giving him a slight nod. Gokudera grabbed the baseball idiot and dragged him to the stairs. They needed to run. Now.

"Wait! Hayato, wait!" yelled a panicked Tsuna. He grabbed his hand in a surprisingly strong grip. "Help him, Hayato! That man… I know him. He was with the Estraneo. I know he is dangerous. I can _feel_ it!" He said with flame in his eyes, and Gokudera wavered. He shouldn't leave them alone. He really shouldn't.

"Please!" exclaimed his boss, with a fierce look that made the other unable to deny his request. He looked at the fight behind them. They couldn't escape like this. The exits would be blocked by now.

If Hibari was here, then the police would follow and they only needed to gain more time. "Run to the ceiling and wait for me there. Got it?" Gokudera clenched one hand on Yamamoto's shoulder and gave him his most menacing glare. "If anything, _anything_ happens to him, I'm going to give you so much pain that you will be left looking worse than that freak. Do you understand?" To his surprise the Yamamoto kid didn't argue with him and just nodded with a strange and sharp smile. He let go of the shoulder and slightly pushed him, staring at them until they reached the stairs.

Grumbling, he went back to the corridor and saw that Hibari had defeated all the men in white and was currently fighting the deformed bloke. Gokudera stared at the fast and violent fight. The man gave the impression of being boneless; diving and bending at impossible angles. He was like some kind of reptile freak. He saw the prefect spin around and plant one tonfa and then the other into his stomach and neck. Gokudera winced at the sound of bones breaking in half.

The man finally slumped to the floor and remained immobile there. He saw the other come closer to inspect his victim. Gokudera immediately saw the ruse for what it was.

"Don't get closer!" he warned, but it was too late. One hand of the man reached for the others ankle. It had been barely a brush, but the bomber was sure that he had got him.

"Damn it!" He swore. He saw the perfect stumble back, his jaw clenched and his hands twitching with spasms. 'Venom, a fast one,' he realized. He saw in dismay how the monster got up, all his wounds closed and his broken arm dangling at his side. The assassin gave the appendage a quick tug to realign the bone and smirked at him. Five of the men were regaining consciousness, no doubt accustomed to a beating more than the average miscreant of Namimori.

Gokudera launched himself to the fight, his explosives collapsing to the stairs behind them to avoid for reinforcements-to-come. He took out one of the men in the process. He danced between the remaining men while keeping his sharp eyes on the hands of the assassin. The other two of the Estraneo pointed their guns at him and shot. He dived to the right and let a barrage of dynamites fly and spread, and took out another two. But in the middle of his movement, he lost sight of the others. He heard a rustling sound to his left and only managed to take a look at the flying needles coming in his direction. He wouldn't be able to evade them, he realized.

There were two gunshots and the needles were broken cleanly in half, dropping to the floor in a harmless fashion, followed by two cries of pain. Gokudera landed hard on his shoulder, wincing at the impact, but immediately scrambled to his feet sensing someone behind him. He glared at the image of a tall, imposing man wearing a fedora. "Chaos." said the man. 'Hit-man,' corrected his mind.

Gokudera had his hands already full of dynamite, just in case. He tried to put some distance between him and this new man. Was this another enemy, or an ally?

"Gokudera, you still need more practice. I will report this blunder to Tumeric," he said with a sadistic smirk. The boy stared. He knew that smirk, and the green gun was impossible to forget. "Signore Reborn?" he questioned in half-confusion and half awe at the sight. The other smirked and nodded, his fedora hiding his eyes. He looked around and noticed that in the time it took him to reach the floor, not only had he stopped the two needles, but also took two of his opponents with the same bullets.

Gokudera gaped at the scene. This was the skill of the best hit man from the Vongola, Reborn. He stared at the smirking man. He looked as fresh as the rain and beyond calm, but the boy could see the murderous glint in those eyes when they were focused on the monster before them.

"Somehow, he knows Tsuna-sama. He is after him. Don't let him get close. He has some kind of poison," he babbled. His mind was filled with myriad questions about the arrival of the hit man. Reborn tossed him a syringe with a yellow liquid.

"He is the Taipan. An assassin from the Gesso family and one of the failed experiments from the Estraneo. That's the closest antidote we have. Give it to him."

Gokudera looked confused for a second and then remembered that Hibari had indeed been poisoned. He looked behind him and saw the other curled in a ball. His lips where bleeding from the strain to keep his mouth shut and his whole body was tense and twitching, but he was silent. Gokudera reached for him and almost lost a finger from the wildly lashing tonfa he received. He heard a chuckle and saw Reborn looking at Hibari in silent wonder. Gokudera caught the lashing arm, injecting the antidote before he could retaliate. "Stop it! I'm trying to help you, you bastard!" he shouted and felt Reborn place himself in front of them.

"Where is Tsuna?" he asked in a calm voice. "I sent him to the ceiling," answered the boy and saw the other nod. "Go to him, and take this one with you. Barricade the entrance and stay there. Got it?" Gokudera didn't answer and just hoisted the now limp Hibari on his shoulder. He turned around and almost missed the last whisper of the hit man. "Good job, Hayato." He paused in surprise for a second and continued running with his cargo, a strange feeling of pride in his chest.

Reborn looked in disgust at the Taipan. The individual was coiled on the floor. His teeth bared at him, almost hissing at him in wariness, just like an animal sensing a larger predator. "I will show you what happens when you target a Vongola," promised Reborn, in his darkest tone.

"Really, Reborn. It's bad manners to take a lady's target," said Bianchi, appearing at his side with a bloodthirsty look in her eyes. She was glaring daggers at the monster that had almost killed her brother. Reborn took her hand and gently rested his smirking lips on it. "What about sharing, my lovely lady?" he asked gallantly while pointing one gun at the man.

Bianchi smiled sultrily at him and said, "You charmer… Fine, but ladies first."

* * *

Mukuro ignored the blood in his eye. Daemon had done something to seal its power. Every time he tried to use it, he felt an unbelievable amount of pain from it. The pain was almost as bad as when _they_ started their experiments with him.

"Nufufufu. That's all you have?" Daemon laughed from the shadows. Mukuro barely avoided the chimera that attacked him. The monster looked rabid and perfectly capable of tearing him into ribbons. Mukuro grabbed his trident and pushed it aside, destroying the beast into a shower of ashes. He would not be pulled into this nightmare.

He saw thousand pairs of eyes looking at him. A legion of monsters and demons were staring at him from the infinite darkness that surrounded him. The other illusionist had used every trick in the book. From using images of his subordinates to shadows of the scientists of the Estraneo.

Mukuro closed his eyes, focusing all his flames into the ring. He let the pain in his eye be an anchor to maintain his own perception grounded. This was a battle of the mind. "Kufufufu. I'm going to make you taste the very tang of hell," he promised to the other. And then, the world around him changed.

His own beasts and creatures started devouring the others. He flooded the desert with black and purple waters, making the desert into a swamp. His favorite lotus vines appeared among the waters, trapping and destroying the rest of the creatures. "Good! Marvelous!" That annoying voice laughed and Mukuro smirked.

'There you are.' He invoked a curtain of fire, causing a flooding of light into the darkness, trying to surprise his enemy. He sent his trident flying and heard with satisfaction, a small gasp of pain on his right. A portion of the shadows parted and Mukuro saw with amusement how his trident was deeply inserted in that hateful body.

"Kufufufu… Look at you. Is this the extent of your power? How disappointing." He taunted the other and pushed his trident deeper inside, making the other wince in pain. The world around them spun and reformed. It was replaced with twirls and spirals of colors and sounds, all directed at overwhelming his brain.

But Mukuro was beyond these tricks. He focused on his pain and on his enemy. "Nice work, Mukuro-kun. Nothing to criticize at the best pupil of the famous Croquant. Nufufufu." Mukuro frowned at the unpleasant smile and he made the world around them change over and over again. He Wrapped layer after layer of illusions to try and break the defenses of the other, his concentration all on breaking the mind before him.

"He is what? The number two? Nufufufu… Yes, he is one of the best, isn't he?" Mukuro snarled at him. He wanted to distract him, no doubt. The young illusionist continued his assault against the mind of Daemon and saw with satisfaction how the rest of the creatures suddenly melted and vanished while the other gave an agonizing scream of pain.

The world around them exploded in a rain of sounds and images; monsters and beautiful images. All of them imploded when one of their pillars fell into madness. "Kufufufu. I win," He declared to the thrashing teenager before him. He knelt at his side and stared at the vacant eyes, smirking at him. Daemon's body suddenly exploded into a shower of black substances. Mukuro saw in alarm, something black and viscous drenching him. This was not an illusion. This was a real attack. He felt some of the liquid bind itself to his neck, like a collar.

"Nufufufu… Tell me. Did Croquant ever tell you who is the number one?" Mukuro touched the now ring of metal around his neck. It was chocking him and greedily sucking his flames. His eye started to hurt once more. He saw Daemon appear in front of him, holding a black chain in his hand. "I am," he whispered with a smug smile. "I have been the number one for four hundred years now. Do you think you could defeat me with this eye when I was the one who created it?"

Mukuro felt the collar on his neck heating up, sucking greedily on his flames and leaving him gasping for air and weak from the draining. "Nufufufu… Don't you like this little chain I took from the Mafia?" He pulled on the chain and Mukuro felt a large portion of his flames disappear into the collar. He glared weakly at the other and spit at him. "Nufufufu. Yes, it will feed on your flames until it bleeds you dry. But don't worry. I'm sure Tsunayoshi-kun will agree at the price for your freedom." Mukuro snarled at him. He was going to use him against Tsunayoshi?

"Nufufufu. He is such a nice boy after all."

* * *

Tsuna felt a pounding headache and he could almost smell the burning flesh from his wrist from the heat that the white strings were giving. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see a myriad of flames around him. They were all agitated and angry. All of them were fighting each other.

"Hey! Are you okay?" asked the guy carrying him. Yamamoto. Hayato had called him that. But Tsuna didn't know him and he was making the other risk his life for him. It was wrong. "Just hang in there. This is the last floor," said the other. He seemed barely out of breath from carrying him up the hundreds of stairs. Tsuna felt ashamed at his own weakness.

"I think this wasn't such a good idea," breathed the other guy and Tsuna agreed with him. In front of them and spread around the roof, were a group of men dressed in white. All of them were heavily armed. But the one that caught his eyes was the one in the center. He was huge, and muscled, the kind you see as a champion wrestler.

"Sir! We have some intruders!" One of the men growled and someone grabbed Yamamoto and flung him to floor. He didn't let go of Tsuna. Instead, he grasped him more firmly, protecting the other from the fall.

Tsuna got up, or tried to because Yamamoto grabbed him in a protective hug, glaring at the obvious enemy before them. "Well, they are only two brats. Should we kill them?" The thin man laughed, his gun already pointed at them. Tsuna looked around the roof and saw the plastic packages deposited in each corner. They had blue and green wires coming out from them and they joined in the middle of the roof, and into an even bigger package.

'Explosives,' his mind supplied. He had learned from Hayato all about explosives, since the other was a veritable fanatic of them. They were trying to collapse the building from the top.

Even if they didn't managed to collapse the building, they would take at least half of it. "Stop looking at me you scum!" He heard the thin and bald man screaming at them and saw as the one dressed in white hit his protector with his gun. The other gave a grunt of pain, but didn't let go of Tsuna to protect himself.

"Just kill them already. We have to finish with the explosives!" barked the giant and Tsuna felt an immense surge of anger inside him. Hayato was just a few floors under him. And Hibari. And hundreds of innocent people. He sensed his flame bubbling under his skin, like a rumbling beast ready for the hunt.

The man continued to rain blows on Yamamoto, laughing at the pair of boys under him."So nice of you to protect him!" Tsuna felt one of the arms encasing him breaking, the sharp noise of the bone shattering. He heard the other scream in pain and Tsuna snapped. 'No more' He thought fiercely.

He felt his flame surge from his hands and forehead, his flame running free through his body, encasing his weak muscles and still debilitated bones, giving him strength. He knew he couldn't last long like this. But he pushed forward, his anger giving him fuel.

He took out the man before him in a flash, and then another. He kicked the rifle from the hands of a third, and punched him square in the face. He saw somebody pointing his gun at him and he sprinted, disappearing with the speed of his flame.

He felt something snapping in his ankle, and a wave of pain. But he ignored it, too far gone in his adrenaline and anger. He saw the giant screaming something and going for the package of explosives in the center and the obvious detonator device on top of it. He took out another of his enemies with a flaming fist and launched his small body against the biggest man.

"Ugh!" He planted his knee on the others nose and felt with satisfaction the grinding of the delicate bones breaking into pieces. A heavy hand swatted at him, like trying to kill a fly. "I'm going to fucking kill you!" Tsuna felt his lungs burning and his muscles slowly tearing under the strain. He grabbed the detonator and broke it in half, tossing the pieces aside. The giant made a scream of anger and launched himself at him and Tsuna retaliated. 'Just a little bit more' He begged to his tired body.

* * *

On the hospital grounds, the battle was becoming a battle royal. G could only stare at the smoking craters on the once beautiful gardens and the burning bushes that were once full of flowers. Reborn had called some allies from the Vongola in Japan, involving the Yakuza into the madness. It was rapidly becoming a nightmare. He could only groan at the sound of the police sirens. The Ninth was going to have them killed. He was sure of it. After hours of torture that is.

He saw a blur of flames slamming in the middle of a fighting group and easily taking out the ones in white. "Giotto!" screamed the red head, finally reaching the side of his friend. The blond took out his last adversary and turned to look at him. G paused at the image of his friend.

"G, my friend…" was the only thing Giotto said and yet, something about him made him uncomfortable. He had known Giotto all his life. They had been practically inseparable for years. Because of that, he detected instantly the subtle differences in his friend. His movements and the way he fought were different. They were now much more fluid, more precise and graceful.

However, what worried him the most were his eyes. They were sharp and cold, burning with anger and filled with strange knowledge and wisdom. They looked like the eyes of the Ninth; old and deep. Darker.

"G, behind you!" He turned around and punched the stomach of his attacker. He turned around to look for Giotto once more. Something had happened to his friend in the short time he had been away. Something bad.

Suddenly, G felt a sharp wrench on his chest, as if someone had seized his heart and yanked it. He felt his eyes going automatically to the roof of the hospital and heard beside him when Giotto gasped in wonder. "That's Tsunayoshi's flame…"

It was the name that made him tear his eyes from Tsuna's flame. Giotto had never called the brunette by his full name. Never.

Before he could say or do anything, Giotto was flying towards the ceiling, leaving him in the middle of the still raging battle.

* * *

Gokudera couldn't believe his eyes. The hospital had become a battlefield. Outside, the police were fighting the Yakuza. How, when and why had they come, he didn't know. But they were now in the battle.

On the ground, he could see dying will flames and mysterious sounds that marked the fights of the Vongola. Inside the building, the disciplinary committee was fighting alongside the security staff and some civilians, against the men of the Estraneo.

It was nothing but chaos. He dodged a pantry and what seemed to be the remains of a television. He barely dodged again when someone flung at him a scalpel with horrible precision. Some of the members of the disciplinary committee tried to stop him, seeing the form of their leader draped over his shoulder. But he didn't turn around and he continued his race. He felt relief at finally reaching the last floor, but sprinted when he heard the screams.

He opened the door to the roof and saw the sushi idiot cradling a broken arm and his Tsuna-sama beating a gigantic man to a pulp while three more men in white tried to pin him with their weapons. With an angry scowl, he tossed Hibari to the floor and sprang in their direction, attacking left and right with practiced efficiency. He turned around to help his boss. He started running when he saw the giant fall off the roof, dragging by his hand a surprised Tsuna with him.

Gokudera didn't doubt. He launched himself to them and flung a pair of mini bombs to the man. The man, startled, let go of Tsuna's arm, his hands instinctively covering his face. Gokudera realized then, that not only were they still falling, but that it was the top frigging floor of the building. He felt Tsuna hug him and he looked at him.

"Don't let go!" screamed Tsuna but his flames were flickering. Tsuna's flame finally died when he tried to lift them up and Gokudera grabbed the smaller body against him. He would not fail. NOT AGAIN. He closed his eyes and twisted his body in the air. He had to be the one to hit the floor first. His body should be enough protection for the other.

"I got you." He felt someone grabbing them both and stopping their fall. He found himself unable to breathe and unable to speak. He raised his head and saw a pair of burning amber eyes.

"Giotto?" Gokudera heard from Tsuna's direction. Then, the boy cried out in pain, his eyes rolling back into his head.

* * *

TBC

I really hope you enjoyed and yes, I'm eeeevil. XD

Your reviews are greatly appreciated *v*


	9. Judgment

**Once more you can give your thanks the incredible work from Silvia-san in this chapter. That, or a bottle of aspirins, your choice.**

**Thank you for all the wonderful people who review, and fav. I truly cannont believe this thing reached 100 reviews, I really, really grateful.**

**Thanks: (sorry if I couldn't PM you but I've been really, really busy)**

nDifferentYuki-chan

Carrot Cake (really, you have to ask why you deserve especial mention?) ;)

MysticMaiden 18

Kizzialuv

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Taira-keimei

Narutopokefan

WinterGuardianAngel24

Bleach-ed-Na-tsu

And the two who I'm forced to call guest.

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Judgment  
**

Giotto grabbed the pair of boys, and then dived to avoid the gunshots. Flying with only one arm was always dangerous, and there were a lot of enemies down there.

"Decimo, to the left!" screamed Gokudera. Giotto barely avoided a barrel of bullets. He dodged several more and looked down at his arms. Carrying one person while flying was already hard, but two was terribly difficult. "Hold on tight! We're going to land!" he shouted and felt the arms of Gokudera clasp his shoulder.

They landed in the middle of a fight. He could see the great team his rain and his storm guardians were making, effectively drowning their enemies. He saw his right hand man approach him at the sight of his two passengers.

"Giotto! Hayato? TSUNA!" The blond could almost see a suspicious moisture in the others eyes, accompanying the relief in them.

He saw Asari make a curtain of rain flames to cover them. At the same time, G continued to shoot at their foes once in a while with his archery, while continuing to fuss over the younger ones. Giotto almost sweat-dropped at his multitasking friend. The red head grabbed his cousin in a crushing hug and he gave the teen a hard punch in the head.

"You idiot! Why didn't you call us? You're a complete moron!" he bellowed to the teen and grabbed him in a crushing hug once more. Hayato tried to squirm out of the embrace in desperation.

"AGH! Stop it! Let go of me you mushy idiot! What the hell is wrong with you?" Gokudera was almost growling like an enraged cat, and he seemed intent on killing G at the unwanted display of affection. "STOP IT I SAID!" screamed a very embarrassed Gokudera, finally scoring a well placed punch in his cousin's jaw.

"Goda-kun?" asked a befuddled Asari, looking at the silver haired teen from the fishery. "What are you doing here?" He looked between G and Gokudera and his eyes got even wider. "G! You never told me you had a little brother! Wait… Why is your brother working in a fishery here?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" asked G, still half choking his cousin. "He is my cousin, Hayato." He explained slowly as if talking to a very slow person. "AIR!" gasped a very blue Gokudera, and G finally let go of him, looking slightly guilty at the deep gulps of air the other was taking.

"EXTREEEME PUNCH!" Three bodies came flying through the air, landing in a heap at their side, as a half scorched Lampo appeared seconds later, followed by a grinning Knuckles. G heard a hacking noise at his side and saw how his cousin was staring in abject horror at the newcomers. He was shaking in a mixture of fear and panic. "THE IDIOTS!...Y-you… What the hell?"

"Ah! It's the phone-thief!" Lampo exclaimed in his best practical tone, while also pointing at the other. Knuckles came closer to him, and stared at Gokudera long and hard before nodding in a serious manner. "You know, stealing is a very bad thing to do. But don't worry. We are not mad!" G watched warily at his steaming cousin. He had never seen the other so ready to kill anybody.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A THIEF? YOU RETARDED LAWN HEAD!" Gokudera shouted, his face the color of an incensed tomato. Knuckles for his part looked also ready to fight. "Huh? You took my phone, octopus hair!"

"You left it in the beach, you moron! AGH! I SHOULD HAVE LET YOU DROWN!" Gokudera took out his dynamites and got in his fighting stance, ready to blow the other to heaven and beyond. G rapidly grabbed his cousin by the ear as well as his friend, and pulled hard.

"Both of you, calm down!" His patience spent, he glared at them, promising pain and suffering if they dared to defy him. "We are in the middle of a battle if you didn't notice!"

"Goodness….See? I told you he had the same horrible temper that you had," pointed out Lampo, his gaze in a disapproving manner of the ruckus. "You are all idiots," he drawled. Lampo flinched when three enraged pair of eyes zeroed on him. "Uh... Why are you looking at me like that? G-guys? W-wait the enemy is over there… H-hey!"

Giotto sighed at the ruckus and looked in concern at the boy that was still in his arms. Tsuna was looking at him in confusion and wariness. His breathing was shallow and it looked as if the other was in pain. "Breathe slowly," he instructed. The other clenched his eyes, trying to do so.

"Tsuna-sama!" Gokudera was at his side in an instant. He seemed very concerned for the smaller boy.

"Hurts…" Tsuna wheezed from between clenched teeth. He was grabbing his wrist and suddenly, Giotto knew what the problem was. "It's because you used too much of your flame. It's consuming your body now…" G approached them and covered the group from the fire.

"Giotto, is he…?" G asked in a worried tone. Giotto nodded worriedly. "He used his flame. The curse is now devouring what is left of it and of his body… If this continues, then he could die."

"MOVE IT!" screamed Knuckles and the group jumped at once, barely avoiding a barrage of bullets. Giotto grabbed Tsuna against his chest and tried to protect the other from the battle. They needed to end this, 'before it's too late.'

* * *

"Step back, Bianchi..." Reborn muttered, one forearm covering his nose from the offensive stench coming from the screaming man before them. The Taipan had become even more disfigured as their fight continued. The contact with Bianchi's poison cooking proved to be a catalyst for disaster. As soon as the purple goo had touched the man's exposed wounds, he had stared to melt. For lack of a better term, his flesh and bones dissolved into a disgusting mass. And still the man continued to fight.

Reborn had seen many things in the Mafia, and he recognized the eyes of someone who was broken beyond repair. The empty eyes of a person pushed beyond the mentality of a beast. He swallowed his disgust at the image and stepped forwards. 'Just like a rabid dog,' he mused. He needed to end the battle quickly.

He saw the writhing mass, sluggishly moving towards him and pointed his gun, ready for the man's last charge against him. They both jumped in the air, almost brushing against each other in the enclosed space of the corridor. It was an awkward place for a precise shot, but Reborn wasn't the best for nothing. His bullet pierced the base of the skull, cleanly severing the spinal cord, making the heart, lungs and all the body functions to stop.

Reborn heard the body drop, but didn't turn around. Dusting off a faint layer of dust from his suit, the only proof of the bloody battle, he started to walk to the stairs. "Let's go…" he said to Bianchi, who was staring at the body with a mixture of disgust and pity. She nodded and started following the other. They could hear the battle outside rapidly becoming a disaster.

The hit man stopped when his phone started to vibrate. He took out the sleek black device and frowned at the sound of the voice on the other side. "Ciao. Reborn here… Of course we didn't plan this, Nougat!..Wait…"

Bianchi watched Reborn warily, noting the mounting tension in those strong shoulders. "You can't be serious!... Of course I know that…...It's you who doesn't understand!….We found Tsuna, dammit!" Reborn almost screamed and Bianchi was on high alert immediately.

"In the hospital of course! Yes, THIS hospital!...It's the Gesso, no doubt about it. They were using the Taipan as we thought… No…" He rolled his eyes and Bianchi fought a smile at his irritation. "Of course he is dead! Who do you think….? What?...Fifteen minutes? No… Of course I know… Then stop wasting my time, storm guardian!" He growled and shut off his phone.

Bianchi looked warily at the hit man, waiting for an explanation. Reborn pulled down his fedora, his eyes shadowed. "The Ninth ordered us to retreat at once and bring Tsuna with us. The Vindice is conducting a 'raze'… We have fifteen minutes to stop this before they come here," snarled the man. Bianchi gasped at the word.

A 'raze' occurred when a fight between two Famiglias went out of hand outside of their territories. Then, the Vindice would give a warning for the fight to stop and a time limit before they came down and literally razed to the ground the site of the battle, and with it, whoever was in the place at the moment; combatants or not.

"They can't do that, Reborn… This is a hospital!" Protested Bianchi, her hands clenching and unclenching in a bout of nervous energy.

"We have fifteen minutes to stop the fight," answered the hit man in a monotone. The Vindice doesn't listen to reason once they made a decision. He sprinted up the stairs with Bianchi at his heels and paused when he reached the roof because he didn't expect to see an amount of explosives enough to blow up a small town. 'Idiots without the smallest bit of brains,' he thought. The explosives in this place and position would barely take out half of the building.

Reborn swept the floor with his eyes and noticed a boy almost bent over the railings and staring in dumb shock at the ground below. He approached him and almost stumbled at the unconscious form of the poisoned kid. 'The kid is here, but where is Gokudera?' He checked him over and noticed in surprise that his pulse was stable. 'Mmm…Still alive then...?' He had thought that the black haired kid was too young to survive such potent venom.

Reborn glared at the holes from the bullets in the floor and the smell of powder and ozone. Someone had ignited a dying will flame here. And he was almost sure it had been his Dame-student.

He approached the black haired kid that was cradling one of his arms against his chest and took out his gun. "Hey kid… What happened here?" he asked in a low whisper. While he didn't like to take out civilians, if this kid proved to be a risk…

"H-he jumped…" whispered the kid, his eyes wide and confused. Reborn recognized the face… It was almost a mini version of Giotto's rain guardian. "What's your name, kid?" he asked, still fingering his gun and the other suddenly got a sharp eyed look his eyes fixed on his hand.

"Yamamoto Takeshi," answered the teenager, grabbing the railing for support and seemingly ready to dive to the side at the smallest hint of movement from Reborn. 'He's got good instincts…' The hit man relaxed at the word 'Yamamoto'. The name and the face were the same and he had information that Asari had a brother. He wouldn't need to make this kid disappear then.

He nodded to the youngster and noticed how the other almost deflated in relief. The hit man looked at the ground and saw in the middle of the chaos, a bright sky flame that he recognized immediately. His sharp eyes noticed that Giotto was carrying at least another person. He also noticed the pure quality of the flame and the perfect control the user had. His student was good, but this was near perfection. Something had happened to him, and Reborn didn't like it.

"Can you walk, kid?" Reborn asked. Then, he turned around, walking rapidly to the exit. He hoisted the poisoned kid on his shoulder. He would need to be checked by Shamal for remains of the venom. He also needed to be evaluated as a risk too.

"Uh... Yes, I'm fine." Reborn didn't waste a second, but noticed how Bianchi helped the other kid to walk faster. He had a terrible feeling in his gut. His idiot student and his Dame-student were in deep shit. He could feel it in his bones. He took out his phone once more, calling G to inform him of the dangers. They had a fight to stop.

* * *

G swore to heaven when he felt his phone starting to ring in a funeral march, identifying the caller as Reborn. He dived under the remains of a stone bench and answered the call.

"WHAT?" he bellowed, too worked up for any type of niceties. "uh?...A-A motherfucking 'raze'? Are they out of their friggin' minds?" he gasped, his face blanching rapidly. "T-they can't!... Fifteen minutes?... For the love of… Yes… The park… YES I UNDERSTAND!" Reborn would be pissed off at him, he knew, but he just didn't care at the moment.

"GIOTTO! Get your ass down here!" he screamed to his friend, who was in the middle of another scuffle. He waved him over wildly and Giotto flew to his side in a blink. "A raze, the Vindice is making a raze!" He yelled at his friend who frowned deeply at the news, his eyes going to the hospital where at least two hundred people were still trapped inside.

"How long do we have?" G smiled grimly and answered. "Fifteen minutes…Maybe less."

An explosion at his side left him reeling and disorientated as he saw his cousin coming through the cloud of dust. "You idiot! You almost killed us!" He chastised the younger teen and only got a smirk in answer.

"It's not my fault if you're too slow, old man." G had a sharp retort at the tip of his tongue until he heard a muffled scream of pain.

"Tsuna! Don't! Stop trying to use your flames!" The cousins stopped their squabble and looked at the pair at their side. Tsuna was thrashing weakly, while Giotto looked grim and pale. "We don't have time…" Giotto growled, looking between the boy in his arms and the building behind him.

"Take him! We will cover for you!" G shouted with determination. Gokudera seemed to be confused at the situation. "Can you help him?" Gokudera asked while looking beseechingly at Giotto. "You know what is wrong with Tsuna-sama?"

"Ah… I know." Giotto nodded, his eyes fixed on the rapidly paling Tsuna. Gokudera grabbed his hand and bowed deeply to him. "Then help him. Please help him." The teen begged, his eyes firm and burning.

The enemy seemed to double their attack, getting desperate at the combined forces. "Reborn is already working inside. We will take care of the idiots here! We can't let Tsuna or you die!" G bellowed to him, his body covering the pair of Sky flame users. They knew that all of the Vongola would pay dearly if that happened.

Giotto looked wearily at him, his eyes filled with a strange desperation and bitterness. G once more got the strange vibes coming from his friend. He seemed like a different person. Suddenly, one figure appeared behind them. It was a woman dressed in black with a very distinct pink hair and black mask on her face. A Cervello.

"Giotto-sama. We have come to assist you. Your mist guardian called for us…" the woman explained. Giotto almost growled at her. "We will help with the evacuation… We have to hurry or it will be too late for Tsunayoshi-sama," she pressed, unmoved by the hard glare directed at her. Giotto frowned deeply and cradled the panting boy to his chest. G seemed to sense his hesitation because he nudged him with his foot while continuing his series of attacks at the enemy.

"Just go already! There's a park behind the hospital. Go there. We will follow when we finish!" roared G, his back to them. He continued shooting, his archery brightly blazing in red. "Trust your friends for once, idiot! Go! He won't resist anymore!" bellowed G, looking at Tsuna in a concerned way. He was trembling in pain and his skin on his wrist was becoming red, as if burning from something invisible.

Giotto nodded tightly, a shadow covering his face. The Cervello grabbed his hand and Giotto flew through the air with his cargo. He dived and gave sharp turns while evading the missiles aiming at them. He could see above the ground, the complete chaos and carnage, and he glared at the nightmarish scene. Just one hour and the pacific hospital had become a battlefield. He saw the flames of his friends while they continued fighting, mourning the sight. 'This is the Mafia'. None of them would leave this place with their innocence intact.

The blond located the park almost immediately and sighed when they finally reached the ground. He let go of the woman who instantly went ahead. He followed her and found a clearing in the park. It was well protected with tall trees, forming a natural barrier. In the center of it, he could see two other people waiting for them. Giotto recognized them immediately.

"Daemon…" he said in a passive tone and the other smiled brightly at him. "Decimo!" he greeted back, and looked at him with his mismatched eyes. His smile widened. "No… perhaps I should say Primo. Have you finally woken?" Giotto frowned at him, his face passive and unamused, but this only served to make the other nod in satisfaction. "About time, Primo. Nufufufu."

"Yes, I have recovered my memories… All of them." He saw Tsuna looking at the scene with confused eyes, not understanding a word from the conversation. Daemon approached them and smiled at Tsuna who recoiled at the sight of him. "Now, don't be afraid, little Lamb. We are here to help you after all."

"Stop it, Daemon," growled Giotto, turning around, half hiding Tsuna from the amused eyes. "Oh, but I just want to show him my present for him. It was very difficult to round them up after all." The illusionist waved his right hand and behind him, tied to a tree, appeared three bodies. All of them were tied up in black chains; black chains that Giotto recognized for what they were and hated with all his soul. They were chains used to slowly torture and kill its intended victims, painstakingly draining their strength.

"Daemon! How could you?" cried Giotto and almost ran to the side of the others. Only one of them was conscious and he saw the bloodied face of Mukuro glaring darkly at him. He heard the panicked gasp of Tsuna and the way he thrashed in his arms, trying to reach out for the mist user.

"M-muk…Mukuro!" he gasped and coughed, his arms trembling and trying to reach for his friend. Giotto frowned darkly.

"Let them go this instant. How could you use these filthy chains, Daemon?" The blond was clearly enraged and he clasped Tsuna tighter against his chest. "Don't touch them Tsuna. Those chains feed on dying will flames!" Tsuna frowned at him, and pushed against his chest, falling to the ground and Giotto let him.

"Nufufufu… They were trying to interfere. I did what I had to do, Primo. I can let them go with a word, as long as Tsunayoshi agrees to become the Capro Espiatorio once more." The other laughed, his pleased face just making Giotto even angrier.

"What have you become, Daemon Spade? What happened to you? You want me to let Tsuna sacrifice himself for this wretched Vongola? Are you mad?" He pushed Tsuna aside and then grabbed the chains with his hands, glaring in hate at the black metal. "Don't move," he warned to Mukuro and then froze the chains around the boys. Then he snapped them in half with his hands.

"What are you doing, Primo? Are you betraying the Vongola?" Daemon hissed, but Giotto ignored him. He froze the collars then broke them, liberating the boys. He saw Mukuro slump against the tree and stare at him in caution and confusion.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to the other, trying to convey in his gaze the regret he felt. "I have been watching the Famiglia all this time… And I'm making my judgment now…" Giotto turned around, grabbing a protesting Tsuna once more in his arms.

"Daemon, I'm not making Tsuna the shield. I should have done this from the start," he told the other, his face hard and his eyes cold. He had seen and lived through the bloody history of his family, and he didn't approve. "I won't continue this tradition."

"You're abandoning them? Our family?" asked Daemon with a nasty glare. His hands were shaking in suppressed anger. There was a dangerous and dark look in his eyes that Tsuna didn't like. "You have recovered your memories, Primo… Then you should remember your promise."

The other glared back, but nodded. "Yes, I have and this is my decision." He grabbed the Vongola ring of the Sky and took it off his finger. "They had four hundred years to change and they didn't. You want me to allow for this family to continue their legacy…? No, Daemon...The Vongola will pay for their sins." Giotto glared at the ring, his eyes filled with regret and sadness.

"I want to ask you something Daemon," said the blond, his eyes filled with accusation. "Why did you involve G and the others? Even Cozart has been reincarnated in this time… I can feel their souls… Why did you do this?" asked Giotto in a betrayed tone. He stared at the reincarnation of Daemon Spade, who looked amused at the accusation. "Oh? I'm flattered at the praise of my powers… But, I didn't. I only tied half of my soul and yours to the rings, as well as our memories." He crossed his arms and smiled pleasantly at the other. "To be truthful, I didn't bind half of my soul completely. Instead, I lurked in the shadows of the Vongola, jumping from body to body until the other half of my soul was ready for its rebirth… Like we planned, Primo."

"You… You have been living for four hundred years?" Giotto gasped, his eyes worriedly looking at the other. "Why would you do that?" He was appalled. He had been living like a parasite? Jumping and robbing bodies left and right?

"Contrary to you Primo. I don't believe in luck. I had to make sure that the legacy of my dear Elena continued and that nobody got the idea of ridding the tradition….Ottavo almost got the courage to try it, you know? She was devastated when her own cousin offered himself." He laughed at the memory and then glared once more at the pair. "But those little guardians of yours? No, I didn't bind their souls to the rings. Just their memories, like we promised."

"That means…It can't be possible…?" The blonde's mind was a jumbled mass of possibilities and theories. "Nufufufu… That they followed you even beyond death? Who knows? The Vongola rings and the bonds between the sky and its elements... It's a mysterious thing…"

Giotto's face was flooded in sudden understanding, a small, almost shy smile appearing. His friends... They had stubbornly followed him even beyond death? Was that even possible? 'Yes,' his mind supplied. His precious brothers in arms had followed him, even if they didn't remember doing it. And they had found each other once again in this new life.

A part of Giotto was beyond enraged at this. The Mafia had robbed his friends of a pacific life not once, but twice? He couldn't believe this. He had planned for his rebirth, yes. But he had never wanted to drag his friends with him.

"I won't allow this anymore… You want me to let this kind of Famiglia to prosper? You want to let this cursed Famiglia be protected by the blood of innocents? Again?" He glared at his mist guardian. "I asked you to bind my soul to the ring, just for one reason, Daemon. To destroy this tradition. The Vongola doesn't need this kind of shield," Giotto declared; his voice hard and filled with regret. "I waited nine generations to give them an opportunity to change and they didn't!"

He had been sleeping inside the ring, watching the Faimglia he had created. Four hundred years had passed until he had finally felt the other half of his soul being reincarnated into the family once more. Finally, he was reborn in the form of the youngest son of the Ninth boss, Timoteo. He had even whispered a name through the sky ring to the boss .'Giotto,' he had subtly suggested to a young Timoteo.

"Don't tell me this is the Vongola Elena wished for?" He had seen every generation drift farther and farther from its origin, its true purpose. "Don't tell this is the Vongola you wished for, Daemon!" He had watched in surprise and worry how the look alike of his friends gathered around this new Giotto, the history repeating itself. "We didn't fight for this kind of Vongola and I'm not going to sacrifice more people for it!"

"That's your answer?" Daemon asked. He looked as angry as Giotto felt. "You do understand that if Tsunayoshi doesn't become the next shield, all the family is doomed? That all of them are going to die like dogs?"

"So be it. I don't care anymore," hissed Giotto. Then, he screamed in surprise when he felt his hand being burned by a foreign flame. Tsuna had been listening in mounting confusion of the confrontation. He didn't understand half the things the two were saying, but when Giotto practically sentenced his family to die, he saw red. He grabbed whatever scrap of flame he could reach from inside him and used it to burn the hand holding him.

"What did you say?" He glared at the man he had trusted and loved above all others. The light that he had always reached for, even when said light almost burned him. "What about G and Hayato? And Grandpa? What about Xanxus and all the others? You're going to let them die?" Tsuna ignored his already abused muscles. The pain in his torn flesh could not be compared to the pain of Giotto's words.

"You're supposed to be the boss!" he accused, his tense muscles screaming in agony at the smallest movement. "The boss is supposed to protect the family! You told me so!" He screamed and punched weakly at whatever part of Giotto he could reach. Anger. Everything inside him was a mass of anger and hurt. "Are you going to toss everybody away just because you don't like them anymore?" Giotto cringed at the indirect accusation from the one he had truly abandoned, even if he didn't mean to. "You want me to abandon everybody?" He didn't understand most of what was being said, but he clearly understood that the destiny of his family was at risk here.

The blonde grabbed the younger teen and pushed him against his chest in a failed attempt to calm the other. "Tsuna…! We hurt and failed you! You're not abandoning anyone! I'm setting you free," screamed Giotto, trying to stop the mad floundering and stop the other from using his flame anymore. "I won't let them use you anymore!" He didn't want to sacrifice more of his precious people for the Mafia. He didn't want to spill more innocent blood just to preserve their regime.

Tsuna grabbed the blond by the collar of his shirt, almost snarling in his face. "It's my decision who I protect! NOT YOURS!" He managed to scream before hacking coughs left him weak and trembling. His flame flickered in his head. He could feel the bond on his wrist unraveling, breaking apart under the strain of his flame. But he needed to make the other understand, to make him realize the horror in his words. "This is not for the Mafia, this is for our family!" he shouted, finally glaring at the other with deep orange colored eyes.

"Tsuna! Stop it! You're hurting yourself! You're going to die if you keep using your flames! Vongola is not worth it!" He tried to restrain his hands and Tsuna managed to cut his lip with a flailing hand.

"How can you decide that by yourself?" Tsuna whispered, his eyes filled with abhorrence at the other. "No matter what happened before… Even if you abandoned me, I won't change my mind about my family and friends…If my life is the price then… I would be happy to die for them!" He panted, his vision wavering in front of him, unsure of the right words to say to convince the other of saving their family.

He saw Giotto stare at him in shock. Then he touched his lip gingerly and winced at the pain. He stared at the blood on his fingers, the blood of the Vongola that had been the cause of hundred years of pain and suffering. He saw the young boy in his arms, trembling and diminished, but with his eyes filled to the brim with an unshakable determination. Tsuna grabbed his hand and put the ring on his finger with trembling and clumsy fingers and clasped the appendage between his smaller ones.

"Don't give up on us! We are your family! ALL OF US!" The brunette begged, his tone wavering in the middle of his exhaustion, his body shaking at the strain of maintaining his flames.

The blond seemed to be deeply shaken at his actions. He was looking at the other with mirror eyes encased in orange flames, calling directly to his soul and finally the memories of Giotto Leoni overwhelmed the memories of Primo. The two lives, two set of memories and feelings merging into one at last. The flame in his heart burned in agitation, bringing forth all the warmth that he had forgotten. Giotto grabbed the hands and hugged the other, restraining his thrashing body.

Tsuna stopped his frenzy in surprise when he felt how Giotto rested his head on his shoulder, his arms trembling and embracing him almost painfully. The man was mumbling something against his shoulder, but Tsuna couldn't hear what it was "…hoped…" he managed to catch. Then, the shoulders stiffened and the smiling face of Giotto appeared before him. "I understand Tsuna… Yes, you're right. It's _our _Family..."

Tsuna stared in confusion at him and grew even more confused when Daemon grinned widely at them, his face pleased for once. "Nufufufu. Have you come to a decision, Primo?" Giotto nodded "Please make a barrier for us, Daemon."

The mist user nodded and motioned to the Cervello. One of the women remained at the side of Mukuro, while the other gave him Mukuro's trident. He lifted the instrument and let it fall gently against the floor. The pavement rippled and a wide circle of mist flames appeared around the three of them.

"Start the ritual then… First boss of the Vongola."

TBC

* * *

I don't know if I managed to explain it clearly, but this is what happened: Half of Primo's soul along with his memories were 'trapped' inside the sky ring for four hundred years, while the other half of his soul was tied to the Vongola line to be reborn in a later time. When Giotto won the ring in the battle against Xanxus, 'Primo' started to slowly wake up and join with Giotto. (Remember the dreams?)

I just noticed I end up killing all my OCs… I'm such a bad mother…. T.T

I want to bring to your notice that Basil's birthday is on July 23, and guess who has the same birth-date?- Wink wink-

Yes! My birthday!


	10. Closing the circle

I'm sorry but I have been terribly busy, but with the marvelous help of **Sylvia-San (our most wonderful beta)** we managed to finish this in time.

For the same reasons I can't answer your reviews as I would like but nonetheless THANK YOU! :

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And of course to all those who only reviewed as Guest and all the fav!

With no further ado:

* * *

"BLA BLA BLA BLA" Speak

_'bla bla bla bla'_ Thoughts

**Chapter Ten: Closing the Circle**

The man in charge of the men from the Gesso Famiglia glared venomously at the arrogant red haired teen, but his glare mellowed when a very big and menacing flame arrow was pointed between his eyes.

"Order a retreat… NOW!" demanded G. Whatever patience and negotiation abilities he had were long depleted. Intimidation and violence were acceptable substitutes for the situation. "You have five seconds to get out of here before we blast your asses," he promised. The man finally gave the signal, growling at the sighs of relief from his men.

The wonderful thing about the Vindice was that nobody doubted their warnings. Even the Gesso underlings understood the absolute and merciless power the Vindice commanded. It had taken a mere ten minutes to make everybody stop their fights and one word for everybody's faces to pale.

_'Raze.'_ There had been only five of those in almost sixty years, one bloodier than the previous one, and each one had made a deep impression in the Mafia world.

G felt almost proud of his coordination abilities. He had directed the unruly bunch of lunatics with perfection. They managed to convince, subdue and intimidate every combatant to a standstill. Only the main idiot had continued fighting, costing them precious minutes and making G lose the last part of his patience. He had summarily proceeded to beat the crap out of him and made him order his men to retreat.

"Cozart! Take the people from the Yakuza out of here!" he ordered and the Shimon heir nodded, helping the Yakuza members leave by blasting a hole in the remaining fence. The police were being detained by a curtain of poison fumes, courtesy of Bianchi, as well as a healthy amount of poison cooking.

Cozart looked at him one last time and signaled to the general direction of the park and G nodded. _'We will gather there._' His eyes convened and G turned around, looking in satisfaction at the now almost deserted grounds, the last members of the Gesso crawling away from the scene. "Get ready! They will be here soon!" he commanded to his friends and not even Knuckles dared to argue with him. They had to survive the first wave at all costs.

When the Vindice arrived, the hospital was as silent as a tomb, no one daring to even breathe too loudly. "ASARI! LAMPO!" he ordered and saw in satisfaction how the two elements combined into one making a formidable barrier. Onto which the Vindice proceeded to slam into.

The barrier shattered like glass and the Vindice came down with a ferocious attack. Their black flames were like a pack of hungry wolves on rampage. The storm guardian glared and fired his arrows one after another, while maintaining an eye on his cousin. Gokudera was behind him, guarding his back and protecting Asari and Lampo from the debris with his dynamite. The two of them continued to regenerate the barrier, over and over, both with sweaty and pale faces.

G saw in satisfaction how the last coward of the Gesso left the place. He pointed his archery to the floor and shot a last barrage of arrows with whatever remain of power he had left inside him, and into the floor in front of the Vindice, making a line of rooted arrows in the middle of the two groups, and then whistled once, giving his signal.

Knuckles advanced and punched the floor with his hand covered in sun flames, uniting the sun attribute of activation to make the storm arrows explode in a maelstrom of energy. G watched in satisfaction at how the arrows exploded with a magnificent sound and blast.

The storm guardian felt Gokudera's arms envelop his waist and the smaller boy barely managed to get them away from the resulting explosion. They got up and Gokudera continued to support him sensing his trembling legs and labored breaths. The Vongola Guardians remained tense and alert, barely believing that their plan had worked.

G knew they couldn't defeat the Vindice, but they needed to gain as much time as they could and not get killed by the first blast of the raze. 'Stall them.' Reborn had ordered.

So they had remained in the open, just in front of the building, waiting for the executors. The problem with this arrangement was that the ones remaining in the middle of the 'oh shit' zone were the Vongola guardians. And they would be the ones to get the brunt of the Vindice's punishment.

He saw the dust finally clearing and then, ten figures in black appeared before them. "Everybody quiet," he ordered to his friends, praying to the higher powers for the idiots to listen to him for once. "Whatever you do, don't move!" he said while staring specifically at his younger cousin.

"The Vongola is here but… where is the Gesso?" came the raspy voice of the leader of the Vindice. G lowered his eyes when ten of the black figures surrounded the group, and all his willpower went into forbidding his limbs from trembling. "The only ones remaining here are us, the Vongola and the civilians..." answered G, trying not to let his voice waver. "The conditions for the Raze are not complete."

The rule was clear. A raze was a punishment for all the Famiglias involved in the fight. _All_ the guilty Famiglias were to be present and still fighting to receive the punishment. Their last hope was to gamble on this loophole.

The Vindice seemed to contemplate his words and pointed one bandaged finger to the group of teenagers. "You all will be taken to the Vindice prison to await your sentence." G felt his mouth going dry._ 'At least we will live._' This was it, there was no running away from these monsters.

He lowered his archery and raised his hands, all the tales about the Vindice prison were horrific, and the few who had managed to be released from the frozen hell related nightmarish depictions from the place._ 'At least we are alive.'_ he continued to convince himself, while looking at his trembling cousin.

He had even heard rumors of people submerged for years in tanks like some kind of freakish specimens of a horror movie. He knew that Hayato was truly brave, but no twelve year old should put even a foot in that place. He would have to deny his connections to the kid and make him a civilian to the eyes of the Vindice. G clenched his teeth. It would undoubtedly hurt Hayato to be denied as part of their family, but he had no choice. He put one hand on his shoulder and talked to the Vindice. "Wait! This one isn't…"

The sound of a gun shooting into the air and the unmistakable voice that followed interrupted G's statement. "Chaos!" It was Reborn who stepped forwards and faced the Mafia police, and G could sigh in relief at the sight. "As you can see, there's not a fight going on in here..." argued Reborn unflinchingly at the imposing image of the cloaked figures. Behind him was one teenager wearing a pompadour style and there was only silence from the hospital. It looked almost empty, but G knew that inside there were still at least two hundred people.

Somehow Reborn had managed the impossible and had silenced and subdued the raging hysteria inside. "We only defended ourselves… The Gesso were the only ones responsible for this," stated the hit man in a cold tone, his gun in plain sight and his fedora lowered. "This town is part of our allies' territories, and because of that, we were obliged to intervene." explained the hit man, his face completely serious and calm. G was completely impressed at the lying prowess of the man.

"We have orders to bring in the guilty parties…" whispered the one in command, the sound of rattling chains filling the silence. "You must come with us." the cloaked figure rasped, his chains lifting from the ground. G growled, and positioned himself in front of his cousin. He felt at his back how the rest of the guardians tensed and raised their weapons once more.

"Ah… But I have proof." Reborn took out from his suit two tapes, and tossed them to the floor. "Those are the hospital´s surveillance videos of this incident…" drawled the man and then looked behind him extending one hand. "Gokudera, give them the phone! The one Knuckles had." G saw his cousin flounder while patting his pockets and for a moment G was sure that Hayato had lost the device, and sighed in relief when a slightly battered phone came out of his pockets.

"Here…" said Gokudera, almost tossing the phone to Reborn, unwilling to step closer to the Vindice. G couldn't blame him, those monsters were terrifying. "This is proof of the Gesso's betrayal against the peace treaty with the Vongola, as well as the treaty for time traveling devices." explained Reborn, and one of the Vindice took the tapes and the phone. The leader didn't seem either shocked or even interested at the evidence.

"You shall remain in this town until we come to a decision." he ordered in the same raspy and dark tone, and Reborn merely sneered at them. As fast as they had come, the Vindice left. The Vongola used the remaining confusion of police and hysterical people running out of the building to escape.

"Come one, we still have to pick up your boss..." Reborn said, and G nodded warily at the dark look in the hit man's eyes. The group started running in the direction of the park, scurrying through alleys and corners, trying to avoid the police and press that were flooding in the direction of the hospital. "This is becoming a circus…" whispered G and flinched at the scorching glare Reborn gave him, before running again.

Reborn was carrying around a black haired kid he didn't recognize and Asari was also supporting what seemed like a younger version of himself, that Bianchi had almost tossed at him._ 'When did she get those goggles?_' he mused. Besides him, Hayato was doing everything in his power to be as far away as he could from her.

G had so many questions for so many people, but a sudden flare of indigo flames in the distance made him run faster in the direction of the park. Those were mist flames, very familiar mist flames. "Giotto, Tsuna!" G panted as they finally reached the source of the light.

He paused when he recognized two of the Cervello calmly staring at something inside a dome of mist flames. One of the Cervello seemed to be guarding three bodies. _'What the hell is happening here?_' he wondered. Then, his eyes went to the middle of the circle and he saw Giotto, Tsuna and Daemon inside the dome. "What the hell are you doing here Daemon?!" he growled at the other. He had enough for a day. He didn't need anything else on his plate. "Giotto? What…?"

"Nufufufu… Late as always, my fellow guardians!" mocked Daemon from inside the dome. "But don't worry, we are just finishing the bond..." he explained and G swallowed the barrage of insults he wanted to hurl at him. He looked at Giotto instead, asking silently for an explanation.

"We are fulfilling a promise..." stated Giotto. G frowned at his friend's tone. The blond was kneeling in front of Tsuna and the boy was shaking and seemed barely conscious. His flame was alight, but was flickering madly. "What are you talking about? Daemon, what are you doing here?!" The redhead saw Giotto whispering something to Tsuna and put one hand on his head and then slid it down, letting it rest on the boy's back; as if steadying him for something.

"I'm sorry… This may hurt a little." he heard Giotto whisper to Tsuna. G stepped forward to reach them, barrier or not. He paused in astonishment when he saw Giotto pulling back his other arm, tensing his body and extending his fingers now covered in orange flames.

He saw as Giotto narrowed his eyes in concentration and then made a sharp move forwards, stabbing Tsuna in the chest, in the exact same spot where Xanxus had stabbed Tsuna in the past.

"NO!"

He watched from the corner of his eyes as Cozart appeared at his right, and heard him scream in rage at the impossible image before his eyes. He saw one of the Cervello try to restrain him, and her lookalike joined the fray, but all of it was lost in the middle of the nightmarish vision.

"G-giotto?" he whispered in a lost tone and then, he fell to his knees. He watched as in slow motion as the wrist disappeared inside the boy's chest; inside the boy he had watched over for so many years, the flame he had helped to maintain alight. He felt himself suddenly transported to a nightmare. This couldn't be real, this was obviously an illusion created by Daemon. He heard Gokudera making a choking noise, and stumble forwards and also falling to his knees.

"Are you betraying us Primo?" asked an equally surprised Daemon, but didn't take down his barrier. Giotto shook his head calmly and held the struggling Tsuna in place, his hands firm and strangely gentle. "Keep the barrier up!" commanded Giotto in a tired tone. G suddenly noticed that there was no blood, not even a drop. Giotto's hand was enveloped in flames and Tsuna seemed to struggle more in panic than in pain. G saw from the corner of his eye as Reborn pointed his gun at the scene and shot, only for his bullets to fall harmlessly to the ground.

"This is the ceremony for the binding of the Capro Espiatorio. You shall not interrupt!" stated one of the Cervello, her impassive face turned towards to the group. Cozart was being held by gunpoint and seemed torn between anger and fear. G blinked at her while Reborn stepped back, with a snarl in place.

"Ugh!" G whipped his head around at the sound. Tsuna was now yelling in pain as countless white strands appeared around the brunette's wrists, a myriad of bright strands of light, writhing around for a moment and then disappearing in a shower of sparks. "Let's begin…." whispered Giotto and took out his hand.

The storm guardian watched in shock how the hand of his friend came out covered in a thick and black substance. It had a strange bulbous shape. The mass was writhing sluggishly, like some kind of deformed parasite, moving around and reaching towards his friend.

G tried to make his legs move, but he was paralyzed in confusion and astonishment. He couldn't understand the situation at all. "H-hey… Don't!" He saw in revulsion as Giotto pushed the thing inside himself while making a horrible grimace of pain and disgust, until all of the filth was inside his chest, leaving his best friend; his brother, shaking and pale.

"I'm fulfilling my promise Daemon…." The blond clasped his chest with a grimace and looked up to the sky with a strange look in his eyes. "We are fulfilling our promise!" Giotto said with a strong voice. His flame doubled in size and pulsed once and then twice. Around him, eight figures appeared. All of them were dressed in the same way; with a filthy and torn goat pelt and white, torn robes.

"We received your message through the ring, Primo." said one of the figures. It was the voice of a woman. "We will be happy to help you accomplish this…" He heard Daemon gasp and almost let the barrier fall. He was looking around with a desperate expression. One of the figures stepped forwards and extended pale and delicate arms around as in a nonthreatening gesture. "The eight of us agree with your resolve."

The eight figures were removing their pelts from their shoulders, revealing youthful features and a strange white halo surrounding their bodies. They took off their respective pelt and deposited them in the center of the circle of mist flames, making a gruesome pile of animal skins. "We all wish for the same thing, Primo." G stared at the revealed sight of the young men and women, all of them ghost like in their movements with unearthly grace and shine. They all had strands of white light around their wrists. They looked like shackled spirits to him. "We are ready, Primo. We finally have ten…. It should be enough." said one of the men. G recognized him from one of the photos from Otavio's time; he had been her cousin or something.

G stared in astonishment at the figure that approached Giotto. "My son... are you sure?" This was his friend's mother, Alessandra. The woman seemed for once, healthy and free, not the pale, fragile woman G had always seen. "There's no going back once we start this…" She approached Giotto and gave him a soft hug, and then reached around him, closer to Tsuna and proceeded to put her hands around the shoulders of the small boy, still looking in concern at Giotto.

G watched as something white and red materialized above Tsuna's shoulders. It looked like some kind of animal's pelt; the same type the other eight ghosts had been wearing. Giotto seemed sad and overjoyed at the sight of his mother. He smiled gently and nodded. "I'm sure…mother." Giotto said. The woman nodded gravely and yanked hard at the pelt and Tsuna screamed in pain at this, his flames finally extinguishing, and the body slumped forwards like a puppet with its strings cut.

Was he alive? Dead? G couldn't be sure. He wasn't sure of anything at the moment. This was definitely a trickery or a delusion because there was no way this scene is real.

Another of the figures separated itself from the group, and approached Daemon. It was a very beautiful woman and G felt a spark of a memory at the sight. "Elena?" he heard the illusionist whispering in a longing tone. His voice was soft and yearning. It sounded almost human to G ears; a desperate and lost voice. "It's me, Daemon, my love... It's time to rest…" The woman reached forward, her thin arms enveloping the other. "You have done enough for our family. Thank you, my beloved."

The blond woman smiled gently at Daemon, gathering him in her arms like a lost child. She kissed his lips gently and took his hand. "It's time to correct our mistakes. Will you help us?" she asked with a tender smile, her hand slowly caressing his face."Nufufu…Have I ever denied you anything, my dear lady?" Daemon answered, taking her hand.

When the ten figures joined in a circle, the purple circle changed in color, becoming a brilliant white that hurt his eyes. "Giotto!" G screamed once, his eyes searching his friend. He was confused, afraid, and most of all, he had a horrible feeling about these proceedings. He needed to stop whatever they were doing, somehow. But the white light seemed to expand and make the air heavy with power. He couldn't move, G realized. He was completely paralyzed.

"GIOTTO!"

* * *

When the hand went inside his chest, Tsuna stared in frozen horror at the face of the one attacking him, but Giotto's face was still serene and sad. Tsuna suddenly noticed that there wasn't that much pain. Instead, he felt as if half of his pains and aches were disappearing at once. There was only a prickly feeling inside his chest, almost burning but not quite.

He felt the arm retreating and he panicked. This couldn't be normal! He had a hand in his chest, and yet there was no pain, no blood, nothing! A harsh pull later and the pain finally invaded his senses. He felt as his hands were being burnt. His wrists were on fire. He watched in panic and desperation as each delicate strand on his wrist snapped and disappeared.

He waited for the pain to subside and gasped in horror at the black thing that Giotto had pulled out of his chest. He almost puked at the smell of the thing. It reeked of blood and decaying things. Like the concentrated stench of a thousand foul wastes.

"What? What are you doing?" he whispered when Giotto pulled the thing inside him, forcing the struggling mass in his own body. Tsuna watched the act as if in a horrified trance. "No…" Then, eight figures appeared around them, and divested themselves from the pelts.

"My son... are you sure?" This was his aunt, Alessandra, Tsuna realized. It was really her. "There's no going back once we start this…" she warned, and Tsuna felt himself at the edge of going mad. He didn't understand all of this. The world had become insane and he had been left behind. Why was Daemon calling Giotto, Primo? Why were the people from his dreams appearing before him?

His mind came to a stop when he felt something tugging at his very soul, as if ripping a piece of it in the process. And it hurt like hell, it hurt as nothing had ever hurt before. His very soul was burning and freezing and then breaking apart inside him. He screamed at the agony and faintly heard someone speaking, but Tsuna could only hear the frantic beat of his heart and the roar of his flame coming alive inside him once more; finally free from the burden of the curse.

He saw the one called Daemon join the group and saw Giotto's face getting closer to him once more. "Shh… It's done…It's over for you…" The blond hugged him again, harder this time, almost desperate. He was trembling. There were no tears in his eyes, but Tsuna could see the panic and fear inside those amber eyes, Giotto was deeply scared of something. "All I ever wanted was to protect you from this world…I wanted to avoid…" The blond whispered, trying to convey something with his eyes and failing.

Tsuna felt the horrible shaking of the bigger body and the warm breath in his ear. "I'm sorry for this… It's fine if you don't forgive me, us." he whispered, while his pain-filled brain tried to make sense of the words. "It's okay to hate me, but… Please don't forget about me. Remember me, Tsuna… Please…?" he finished in a choked whisper, as if uttering those few words was tearing his heart apart.

Tsuna grasped one of Giotto's hands. "What…? What are you doing, Giotto?" Tsuna didn't understand the meaning of the words, unable to believe the message in them "Take care of everybody… and don't forget that I have always loved you very much... Always will…"

"Wha...? What are you saying?" His hyper intuition was working overdrive and Tsuna grasped his hands with desperately. _'Don't let go!'_ screamed a frantic voice inside him. _'Stop him!'_ wailed something deep inside him. There was something terribly wrong with this. He felt that if he let go, then Giotto would.. He would…

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Tsuna screamed in fright, grabbing the hands in a death grip. He clasped one shoulder in fear and Giotto returned the embrace, smiling at him with that awful sad look in his eyes. "I'm destroying the tradition…" Tsuna's arms went slack at the words, his embrace weakening._ 'The shield? What about the family?!'_ He searched for an answer in his eyes and only got sadness and fear from them. "W-what…? why? " he babbled. He felt the other letting go of his hands, their fingers barely brushing in their retreat. 'No! Stop him!' bellowed his inner self, but his hands were numb with confusion and betrayal. 'You liar.' He was destroying their family?

Giotto got up and walked to the circle of nine, now ten with him. Elena smiled dolefully at him and he nodded to the woman. The circle was now complete. The ten flames burned and merged in a vortex of white light and heat, merging in a pillar of flames with a roar, making the trees groan and the earth shake with the intensity of it. The pelts dissolved in a black mass in the center, vanishing in a black mist.

_'Get up! STOP HIM!'_ demanded something inside Tsuna. He tried to get up. He struggled with the same desperation as the day he had woken up _'Move, MOVE!'_ He pushed himself to his knees and this time, he locked them until he was back to his feet. _'Please, just **move.**'_ One step at a time, he approached the burning dome until he could see clearly each of the people inside._ 'No, no…stop.'_ They were all covered in flames, but with peaceful expressions on their faces, and the strands were dissolving and gathering around Giotto in a strange show of sparks.

"Please…" he whispered, without knowing what he was begging for. He gasped when the first one opened his eyes and disappeared, smiling beatifically at something invisible. "No…Giotto!" He reached the column of fire and tried to touch it, burning his hands in the process, the angry blisters covering the pale skin at once. "What are you doing? STOP IT!" He saw another figure disappear.

He saw in desperation as one by one, they vanished in a burst of flames and light and sad smiles on their faces. The boy saw the image of his aunt smiling at him and mouthing something he couldn't hope to decipher, before disappearing with the rest. "AUNT!" He moaned in anguish, feeling her flame disappear from his senses, the same flame that had shielded him for so long. "I beg you! STOP THIS!"

Tsuna felt a mounting dread with each disappearance until only Elena, Daemon and Giotto remained inside the dome. The woman smiled brightly at his husband and whispered something to his ear and he smiled gently in return nodding slowly and kissing her cheek. They both disappeared in a blaze, leaving behind only Giotto in the middle of a colossal ball of flames. "PLEASE! GIOTTO, PLEASE!" he implored to the blond, every part of his being aching, his own flame weeping at the extinguishing flames.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING!" Tsuna heard someone screaming at his back, and continued to push against the fire, feeling the skin on his arms burning from the heat of the column. "GIOTTO, YOU MORON! GET BACK HERE!" Another voice joined the ruckus, and Tsuna screamed in agony as the fire intensified, feeling his skin falling apart and exposing the delicate tissue under it. He ignored the pain and pushed forwards, his eyes beseechingly and tormented. "Please…please don't do this!" he whispered looking directly at Giotto.

"GIOTTO!" It was G's voice, a part of Tsuna's brain supplied, and it sounded completely desperate. "YOU BLASTED IDIOT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" "GIOTTO COME BACK HERE BEFORE I KICK YOUR ASS!"

"Stop joking around! GET OUT OF THERE!" Tsuna heard the screams at his back, but his eyes were focused on the burning image before him. He needed to reach him. He had to stop him! But it was Giotto who approached him instead and gently clasped his hand once more. His hands went through the flaming barrier with ease, and Tsuna felt a sliver of hope.

"G-giotto…?" The other suddenly looked older; timeless. Almost intangible, and tired, so very weary. Like an ancient god fed up with his tasks. Tsuna clasped the hand with his own burnt one, as if trying to ground the other at his side. "Please… stop this…" He begged him, supplicating at him once more to stop the ritual.

The blond dropped his smile and looked at him with a tired and guilty expression. "We are destroying the tradition, Tsuna… All of us…" he explained in a low voice, his eyes calm and resigned. "We are going to give our flames and souls to fill the void of the Tri-ni-sette and destroy the curse once and for all…" He frowned lightly, as if remembering something, but then shook his head.

"We didn't have enough power before, but now…" He closed his eyes in sorrow and then opened to look the other in the eyes and Tsuna saw acceptance in them. "I'm sorry for being selfish once more Tsuna…" he whispered, and Tsuna felt a surge of panic inside him.

_'No… He couldn't … He wasn't going to…'_ He clasped the hand strongly, making his burnt fingers bleed from the strain, ignoring the pain and the tears blurring his vision. "Take care of our family for me, Tsuna. I trust in you." he said, while raising his voice and looking at someone behind him.

"I'm leaving the rest to you, _Decimo_… Tsuna, I know you can change the Vongola. Ciao, my…" Suddenly Tsuna was flung away by a sudden surge of power. He heard the sound of something breaking and a bright light hurting his eyes. He could hear someone screaming in rage, in denial. Was it was him or another? He didn't know. He could feel the ground shaking under his knees and the wind ruffling his hair, and the incandescent light trying to burn his retinas.

When the light receded, he found himself kneeling in the middle of a scorched circle, alone, with the sky ring tightly grasped in his hand. 'When did he…?' He stared at the circle of still warm metal, the jewel in the ring glinting offensively at him. He looked around with wide eyes, but the circle was completely empty.** 'Decimo.'** Giotto had called him that._ 'As if… he is…'_

The sudden realization of Giotto's actions left him breathless._ 'He is gone.'_ He closed his fist around the ring and curled his body around it, as if trying to avoid his very soul from crumbling in grief. He was crying, screaming. He didn't know anymore. There was just pain and sorrow in his being. It was making him forget about the world, only conscious of the horrible absence of the warmth of Giotto's flame. There was crushing void in his wailing heart.

Someone was hugging him, and then another body joined the hug, and another, until he was in the middle of a mass of bodies, all of them raging and crying at their loss. Crying for their boss, savior, leader, and rival.

Tsuna felt somebody touching his hand. It was G. The redhead was looking at him with tear filled eyes. He grabbed his clenching hand and took the ring from it. Tsuna couldn't understand the solemn look he was giving him, nor the burning determination behind the pain.

The ring was soaked in his own blood form his battered hands but the pain was ignored at the sight of G taking the metal band between two of his fingers and firmly sliding it on Tsuna's ring finger.

"Decimo…" he whispered, bowing his head and accidentally letting a tear drop on the blue gem. He deposited a brief kiss on the ring and hugged Tsuna once more, giving his obeisance, and sharing his grief in one gesture. Tsuna nodded numbly and returned the embrace, joining once more the group of people wailing with hoarse voices of the death of their friend and brother, the disappearance of the first sky.

_According to Agrippa, "Ten is called the number of all or universal, and the complete number marking the full course of life." With the tenth, a circle is fulfilled, and a new beginning is uncertain._

_Vongola Decimo, Sawada Tsunayoshi, is the designated one to rule the empire._

_The end.  
_

* * *

Hides behind barricade of cute fluffy, adorable bunnies, (the ones you don't throw stones at) -I did warn you about this in the category of the story… remember? Up there? Under the summary thingy? Angst?

I know you want to throw pointy and sharp weapons at me…but perhaps would you tie a nice Review at the handle?

P.D: Please remember that: 'You are dead' 'Start writing you testament' etc don't count as a review.

Just an epilogue next to tie things up.? That's it if you would like one…

About the Giotto/Tsuna relationship I left it open to your own interpretation. Whatever takes your fancy ;) - proceeds to run to the hills-

Sofimiscat


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